Migrants needed to weigh up why they should go to Wanganui - rather than, for example, Tauranga or New Plymouth. He suggested the Wanganui District Council could work to publicise the city to migrants and entice them with incentives, such as limited period rates rebates for businesses.
Mr Prasad said migrants were already coming to the city from Cambodia, India, China, the Philippines and the Pacific Islands, and he expected more from those areas.
The Multicultural Council connected migrants and helped them settle in, as well as organising marae trips, dinners and other events.
Statistics New Zealand data shows 426 migrants arrived in Wanganui in the year to June 2015. Australia was the most common country of origin, with 187 migrants arriving from there. The next most common place of origin was Britain, with 81 new migrants, and third was the United States at 27.
In the year to June 2014, 446 migrants arrived in Wanganui compared to 386 in the year to June 2013.
The figures show overseas migrants who arrive in New Zealand intending to stay for 12 months or more and New Zealand residents returning after an absence of 12 months or more.
Economist Shamubeel Eaqub said the measures to attract migrants to the regions were still in their early stages. "We have seen no quantification of what kind of people will be attracted and for what reason," he said.
In his book Growing Apart, he describes a century in which people have gone to urban centres, at the cost of rural centres, for a number of reasons. It was not New Zealand's problem alone. Every advanced economy experienced the urbanisation trend, he said.
Census data shows more than 88 per cent of people living in the Wanganui District in 2013 were born in New Zealand.
The next most common areas of origin for Wanganui people were Britain and Ireland, at just under 5 per cent of locals, followed by Asia at just under 2 per cent.