Ōpuke Thermal Pools and Spa in Methven has welcomed more than 100,000 visitors since it opened in late 2021. Photo: Supplied / Hazel Redmond
More than 100,000 people have visited Methven's Ōpuke Thermal Pools and Spa complex in its first year in business.
The $15 million facility was originally slated to open at the end of 2020, but Covid-19-related delays and supply chain issues meant that was pushed back until November 2021.
Ōpuke director James McKenzie said despite several challenges, including border closures and the Omicron wave hitting just after the complex opened, it had been a successful year.
"Omicron had an immediate and unfavourable impact on visitation during February and March, and then a protracted impact on staffing, which we only started to get on top of towards the end of winter.
"Given these circumstances, we're very pleased to end up just 10 percent shy of our target visitation for the first year, and also [to] achieve such high levels of service despite our initial staff issues."
From April to October, patronage was "reassuringly consistent", with the pools booked out most weekends, McKenzie said.
Capacity limits and set session times were also introduced to avoid overcrowding impacting the visitor experience, he added.
In its first year, McKenzie said nearly 100,000 extra visitors had stopped off in Methven to visit the facility.
"Many have stayed for the night in local accommodation, headed out for dinner, shopped and tried out some of the many other great experiences on offer in our area."
So far, Cantabrians had made up the bulk of the visitors, he said.
However there had been a steady increase in people from further afield - including international visitors - as Christchurch Airport continued to bring on more capacity, he said.
Ōpuke received government assistance in the form of $7.5 million of loan funding from the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF), which McKenzie said covered about 40 percent of the complex's total construction and establishment costs.
"We are paying interest on this facility and repayments are due to commence in early 2025 but there is flexibility for us to start this earlier."
Without the PGF money, McKenzie said it was unlikely the project would have gone ahead and the site would still be a grassed paddock.
As a PGF project, it was achieving its mandate of stimulating the local economy by attracting more visitors to the town - all year round - and creating employment opportunities.
Ōpuke currently employed around 50 people in a range of casual, part-time and full-time positions, McKenzie said, with the majority being from either Ashburton or Methven.
Ōpuke's director James McKenzie says the complex employs around 50 people, most of whom live locally. Photo: DANIEL ALVEY / ASHBURTON GUARDIAN
The facility aims to be carbon-neutral and has a solar field of almost 500 solar thermal collectors - occupying approximately a quarter of the site -that serves as the pools' primary water heating system.
"Our solar thermal heating system is the first of its kind in New Zealand and now a proven success - keeping the pools toasty warm, even on the shortest day of the year, which has been really neat to see," McKenzie said.
Tourism town, all year round
Methven has been a winter tourism destination since Mt Hutt opened in 1973.
But the flow-on effects of Ōpuke opening mean the tourism season has expanded, with visitors now coming all year round, and local businesses are benefiting.
One example is Ski Time: its owner-operators Peter and Susanne Wood have decided to stay open over the Christmas and New Year period for the first time in more than 35 years.
"Methven is not just a winter destination any more," Susanne said.
"With the Ōpuke hot pools, fantastic restaurants, walks, mountain bike tracks and thriving village, people want to come here all year round and that's great for us all."
Ski Time's decision came after a busy winter that had seen the town at capacity despite a worker shortage.
Ski Time operators Peter and Susanne Wood are keeping their business open over the Christmas and New Year period for the first time in 35 years thanks to the increased tourist numbers Ōpuke is attracting to the area. Photo: DANIEL ALVEY / ASHBURTON GUARDIAN
Border restrictions heading into that season had made it difficult to recruit staff and Ski Time, like many other hospitality and accommodation providers in Methven, had had to reduce its operating hours and room availability in response.
But that did not stop swathes of tourists from hitting the town, with Mt Hutt Skifield returning to its pre-Covid-19 visitation numbers, almost equalling its record years of 2018 and 2019, and even staying open until Labour Weekend.
"This was one of the biggest, busiest, quickest, most exhausting, entertaining, satisfying and super successful winter seasons for Ski Time," Peter said.
Award-winning facility
Ōpuke received an early present on the eve of its first anniversary, collecting a gong at the 2022 New Zealand Architecture Awards.
The facility won the commercial category, with the judges saying its "architectural form and material selection reflect the approach to this site at the foothills of the Southern Alps".
"A huge effort by many went into creating Ōpuke, so this type of recognition is a real highlight of what has been a pretty successful first year," McKenzie said.
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.