$358m spending boom in Bay

Jane Debenham, manager (left), and her team Rosemary McKenzie and Kim Harvey, of Paper Plus Mount Maunganui, had a successful December. Photo / George Novak

December was a strong month for trading in the Bay of Plenty, with shoppers spending $20 million more than during the same month in 2013.

According to latest Paymark statistics, Bay residents spent $357.8 million in December 2014 - a 5.9 per cent increase on 2013, when $337.8 was spent.

Hotel Armitage manager Sarah Baxter said accommodation in Tauranga was so busy "customers were fighting for rooms".

"From Christmas, it was pretty much full through to the New Year. It was reasonably quiet prior to Christmas but then, as soon as Christmas hit, it went crazy," she said.

"We got a lot of calls from people who had been searching for accommodation but had not had any success in finding somewhere to stay."

Ms Baxter said the majority of the hotel's guests were New Zealanders rather than overseas tourists. "After Christmas, everyone travels around to see family members and people are generally more willing to spend money, so we had a lot of Kiwi families staying."

Paper Plus Mount Maunganui manager Jane Debenham said her store was up last month compared to previous years.

"If you have good quality at a good price, it moves. We did extremely well with books - books are not dead. A lot of people are still looking for books and are prepared to pay for a book they want."

Mrs Debenham said the outlook for 2015 was positive.

High St Boutique owner Bernadette Rowlands said December had been up on previous years and there had been a lot of foot traffic in the city centre.

Mrs Rowlands said that, while there were a number of empty shops in town, she did not believe this would be a long-term trend and new shops were opening.

About 80 per cent of her business this week had come from visitors to the area, mostly holidaymakers from Auckland and Wellington.

Hammon Diamond Jewellers owner Julie Hammon said she had a "very buoyant" trading season in December and she was positive about 2015.

"There are indications for positive retail growth."

Last December was significantly better than previous years, Mrs Hammon said.

Christmas Eve and Boxing Day were the busiest retail days nationally, with $18.5 million spent on December 24 and $10.5 million on December 26.

Some of the largest gains on 2013 were in accommodation, up 11.8 per cent, and food and beverage, up 10 per cent.

Paymark head of customer relations Mark Spicer said the increase in these two sectors was due to booming tourism and all regions were likely to be reaping the benefits.