Tourism spending in Hawke's Bay has been breaking records, despite no international tourists crossing the border.
Napier. Photo: 123RF
Spending for July, August and September reached record highs compared to the same months in previous years - a contrast to the huge drop in spending during April because of the Covid-19 lockdown.
Tourists spent $84 million in Hawke's Bay in February. That dropped to $5m in April, but by July had bounced back up to $50m.
The chief executive of Hawke's Bay Tourism, Hamish Saxton, attributes the success to advertising campaigns that targeted cities such as Wellington.
But at a Hawke's Bay Regional Council meeting this week, he said it could be tough to keep this spending up over summer, and he still thinks the Christmas period will be challenging without international visitors.
"The greatest challenge over the Christmas period is what is going to be lost from the lack of international visitors and the lack of cruise visitors that we would normally get at that period.
"So right now we're tracking well, but Christmas and the summer holidays will be quite different without international visitors."
Latest estimates tourism spending estimates from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment show for 12 months to October, spending for Hawke's Bay had only fallen 5 percent year on year, despite the lockdowns. It estimated $640m was spent on tourism in the Hawke's Bay in that time.
The figures show the Hawke's Bay is among the regions least badly affected by the fall in tourism spending due to the pandemic, alongside Coromandel (-3 percent), Northland (-4 percent) Whanganui (-1 percent) and Wairarapa (up 6 percent).
The worst affected places include Auckland (-26 percent), Queenstown (-24 percent), Fiordland (-22 percent), Wanaka (-21 percent), the West Coast (-21 percent), and Wellington (-21 percent).