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Construction has started on the Hawea River kayak park up river from the Camphill Road Bridge at Hawea Flat. For the white-water kayak course to be built the river flow was reduced from about 13 cumecs to about three cumecs on Monday. The Hawea River is part of the catchment area for the Clutha River where Contact Energy operates the Clyde and Roxburgh dams. Contact will fund the kayak park project as part of an agreement between the energy company, the New Zealand Recreational Canoeing Association and Central Otago Whitewater Incorporated. The construction work should take about eight weeks.
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Tourist numbers down Tim Brewster Negative television images, the aftermath of the Canterbury earthquakes, skewed statistics and a weakened winter marketing effort are just some of the reasons put forward for a Statistics New Zealand report showing an 11.5 percent drop in Wanaka tourist bed nights in July of this year compared to 2011. “We need to be seen as a credible year-round destination, not only by tourists but by wholesalers,” MT Outdoors owner Steve Hart said. He is concerned Wanaka is losing out to Queenstown which showed a 7.1 percent increase from last year in the same month. The month of July with the school holidays is considered to be a crucial earning time for a number
of businesses to set them up for the potentially lucrative ski season. “I really think summer is the main focus for Lake Wanaka Tourism, but we need good winter marketing to keep momentum up for the whole year,” he said. Lake Wanaka Tourism
year, followed by 58,000 this year. He said in comparison Queenstown was down overall over the past three years with numbers of 274,000 in 2010 followed by a “horrible dog of a year” in 2011 dropping to 246,000 before recovering to 263,000
We need to be seen as a credible year-round destination, not only by tourists but by wholesalers. general manager James Helmore said the figures needed to be looked at in context as over the past three years Wanaka was still showing increased bed night numbers. Numbers in 2010 were 51,000 guest nights followed by 65,000 in 2011 which was a record
this year which explained the reported increase. Another aspect was the amount of private accommodation domestic and Australian visitors used which were not factored into the numbers he said. Aspiring Campervan and Holiday park owner
Richard Hutchison reported an increase from last year, but believes the statistics are skewed due to a number of house rentals that don’t register as commercial accommodation. “I can’t believe that after the late school holidays and the lack of snow last year our numbers are down,” Richard said. Some of the more boutique accommodation providers showed an increase for the period but other numbers were down, some by as much as 20 percent. Wanaka Edge Apartment’s manager Aggie Sanders said following a TV1 item showing bare slopes on Coronet Peak and reports of rain, a number of families cancelled.
Statistic highlights In July 2012 compared with July 2011: Guest nights down 11.5 percent to 57,740 International guest nights down 16.2 percent to 34,158 Domestic guest nights down 3.7 percent to 23,582 Average length of stay rose from 2.88 nights to 3.00 nights Overall occupancy rate fell from 32.9 percent to 28.3 percent