Rotorua reigns supreme at the New Zealand Tourism Awards

Rotorua reigns supreme at the New Zealand Tourism Awards

Rotorua – 30 September 2016:

The Rotorua visitor industry was a dominant force at the 2016 New Zealand Tourism Awards indicating that the future is looking bright for the region.

Rotorua Canopy Tours was the star of the show winning the Visitor Experience Award, the Environmental Tourism Award and New Zealand Tourism’s top accolade, the 2016 Air New Zealand Supreme Tourism Award. Destination Rotorua won the Industry Alignment Award for the Rotorua Tourism Investment Partnership and Jared Adams from Rotorua Top 10 Holiday Park was a finalist in the emerging leaders category.

“Last year Skyline Rotorua took out the 2015 Supreme Tourism Award and for the region to retain the industry’s top accolade is a major coup,” says Destination Rotorua GM Oscar Nathan.

“Over three years ago the industry-led board of Destination Rotorua drove a vision that demanded a game-changing commitment from local operators in partnership with the RTO in the marketing of the destination,” says Mr Nathan. “This resulted in the Famously Rotorua domestic marketing campaign which has achieved some fantastic results and helped to drive solid growth in a number of key visitor statistics.”

The latest results from Statistics New Zealand and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment reported a fantastic July month for Rotorua, with record visitor nights up six per cent (an 8,600 night increase) over last year.

“This alignment award is very much recognition of those passionate industry visionaries and the many operators who have subsequently come on board and supported this innovative public/private sector partnership over the past three years.”

Mr Nathan says the Rotorua visitor industry has a pool of exceptional operators, talented staff and a large number of new and exciting investment projects underway and/or in planning. “As visitor numbers, retail sales and spending all continue to increase, the future continues to look very positive for Rotorua.”

Neighbouring Hobbiton Movie Set was another major winner on the night taking out the Tourism Marketing Campaign Award, the People’s Choice Award and the Business Excellence Award (annual turnover above $6m).

Rotorua Tourism 2015 Year Key Facts:

• Tourism in Rotorua is a $700 million per annum industry - domestic visitors spending almost $400 million annually and international visitors in excess of $300 million.
• Two million visitor nights were spent in Rotorua’s commercial accommodation while an additional 1.5 million visitor nights were spent in the homes of Rotorua friends and families.
• The strong growth in the Rotorua visitor industry puts it well on track to achieving the goal of $1 billion in visitor expenditure by 2030.
• The visitor industry is the largest employer in Rotorua.

Visit www.rotoruanz.com/research-and-statistics for more information on the July performance of Rotorua’s visitor industry.

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