A very quiet central Napier at the end of February, but Hawke's Bay businesses now say their doors are open and they desperately need support. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Hawke's Bay businesses say despite a trail of destruction left by Cyclone Gabrielle, their doors are open - and they desperately need support.
Silt-ridden vineyards, wrecked roads and cut-off communities paint a grim picture of the region famed for its fruit, wine and sunshine.
As a result, Hawke's Bay Tourism chief executive Hamish Saxton said they had been fielding calls from people asking whether it was worth a visit - and if they could even get there.
"The answer to that is most definitely yes," Saxton said.
"We've checked in with the members of our organisation and more than 85 percent of our businesses are fully operational and really looking forward to seeing visitors over Easter, and over coming weeks and months.
"We've got great line-ups of events, so we're really keen to see visitors to support our visitor economy."
Listen to the full report here
And they need the income.
Regional council meeting papers showed the cancellation of two major events alone - Art Deco weekend and Horse of the Year - left a $25 million hole in the local economy.
The documents said getting tourists back to the bay was key to the region's recovery.
Saxton said tourism was the third largest contributor to the local economy and employed 10 percent of the workforce - but visitor numbers were not as rosy.
"We know from some of our members that they've lost the equivalent of six weeks worth of business," Saxton said.
"For some of them, the trade has actually been worse than it was during Covid, so this is a massive hit."
David Peabody from Craggy Range winery said the initial drop off in visitors was dramatic, but things had been looking up since State Highway 5 - the Napier-Taupō road - reopened two weeks ago.
"Most of our visitors from Auckland have slowly, steadily started to come back.
"The restaurant is quite busy, we've got quite a bit of onward bookings for our accommodation, but the cellar door is just gradually starting to pick up right now."
But it was a different story for others.
Hawke's Bay Māori tourism chair Toro Waaka, who also runs tours of the old Napier prison, said many Māori businesses that were rurally-based - like hunting and fishing tours - were still closed.
Re-opening had to take a back seat to cleaning up homes, streams, paddocks and marae, he said.
"Their focus has moved from their business to restoring their environment around them, there's been lots of slips, lots of slash in the streams, lots of houses in gullies.
"With all the past confiscation and land sales and whatever, Māori were probably left with all the stuff in valleys et cetera, which puts them at risk."
Waaka said marae being out of action because of cyclone damage was another blow to the economy.
"People underestimate the value of marae in terms of a tourism business.
"They bring a lot of people into the area, they might come for a birthday, they might come for a tangi, but then they go and do other things out in the city."
But he had a message on behalf of businesses like his whose doors were open.
"We need you to come, we need to keep our businesses viable.
"I mean mine, is about one fifth of income I usually have, that's just since Gabrielle, prior to that things were pumping."
Locals were hopeful Easter weekend - and British crooner Sir Rod Stewart returning to the stage at Napier's Mission Estate Winery on Saturday - would mark the return of a pumping tourism economy.