Businesses invited to help sustain the success of Ruapehu’s visitor economy.

Ruapehu businesses are being invited to help unpack the performance of the visitor sector over the past 12 months and look for opportunities in the year ahead at a special Forum on Monday 19th November at the Chateau Tongariro Hotel.

The Forum will include a series of presentations from tourism operators and other stakeholders in the Ruapehu visitor sector along with the Visit Ruapehu AGM.

Visit Ruapehu General Manager Jo Kennedy said that it was important for the Ruapehu visitor sector to recognise the progress that it has made and the contribution it is making to the wider economy.

“Feedback from a variety of businesses from throughout the district has been that they have enjoyed their best winter financially for many, many years.

These good results are backed by key statistical data such as Commercial Accommodation Monitor (CAM) data and Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates (MRTE) spending data.

The data highlights that Ruapehu really has been punching above its weight and outperforming bigger and more established tourism areas and even NZ as a whole for some periods for things like Australian visitor growth,” she said.

Ms Kennedy noted that as well as the normal tourism operators we are hoping that a wider range of organisations who have benefited from the visitor sector growth such as retail, hospitality, iwi and even trade businesses come along to the AGM.

We will also spend some time talking about current issues and challenges as part of looking forward over the coming year including the need for more cooperative marketing efforts between local operators.

Ruapehu Mayor Cameron added that it was very exciting to see that the financial benefits of a strong ski season have flowed throughout the Ruapehu economy.

“Putting Ruapehu back on a path to growth and prosperity has taken a major commitment to change with our communities supporting our economic development agenda as we have worked with government, regional and national partners, iwi and key operators such as RAL to unlock opportunities.

While some decisions have been controversial such as our support for joint venture tourism marketing campaigns and the new Whakapapa Gondola project Council believes these results validate this approach.

The facts are that Mt Ruapehu has seen considerable growth in skier days this year and highlights the importance of taking a long term strategic view toward Ruapehu tourism development.

This spending growth has rippled throughout the Ruapehu economy with visitors spending up large on off mountain activities such as accommodation, dining, retail and other activities.

It highlights why for many Ruapehu commercial enterprises that if you’re in business you’re in tourism,” he said

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