Earthquakes still shaking tourism spending in Kaikoura and Marlborough

Thursday, 26 October 2017

Closure of State Highway 1 north of Kaikoura continues to hit tourism spending in the area

Total tourism spending continues to grow, but last year's earthquakes have had a lingering impact on North Canterbury and Marlborough, while boosting the West Coast economy.

Latest figures from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) show domestic and international visitors contributed $27.3b to the national economy for the year to the end of September, up 6 per cent.

Marlborough has been wooing North Islanders to visit to make up for a drop in domestic tourists from Canterbury.

All the regions bar Marlborough were up, with the fastest growth on the West Coast, which increased 14 per cent to $544m, followed by Tasman (up 14 per cent to $315m) and Southland (up 10 per cent to $623m).

The West Coast was buoyed by strong international spending by German and American visitors, which rose by about a third.

* MBIE under fire over accuracy of international visitor spending data

* Lions effect shows up in visitor spending**

The MBIE figures by territorial authority area also reflect changed travel patterns as a result of the State Highway 1 closure, with the Buller District benefiting from increased traffic over the Lewis Pass post-earthquake pushing up total visitor spending for the September year by almost 30 per cent.

However, the impact of the November earthquake is clear in Kaikoura where the annual spend was down by almost half to $63m, while in Marlborough it was down 2 per cent.

Destination Kaikoura manager Glenn Ormsby said the drop was about what they were expecting.

Destination Marlborough manager Jacqui Lloyd said the closure of State Highway 1 to Kaikoura was undoubtedly behind the drop in spending, particularly by visitors from Canterbury who could not face the long drive over the alternative route.

'Since the road closed that traffic has been switched off.'

A survey had showed most Canterbury visitors came by car, and 75 per cent had said they would no longer visit because of the roading situation.

'There's a lot of Cantabrians who bring their boats up to the sounds for the summer, they have baches in the sounds and come up for long weekends.

'That business has not happened since [the earthquakes in] November last year.'

Fortunately the drop in the domestic market had been offset by a rise in the international sector, said Lloyd.

A campaign to attract more visitors from Nelson, Tasman, Wellington and Auckland also appeared to be helping.

Lloyd said they had been assured the road would reopen before Christmas, and that was vital for summer trade.