Rain can't spoil Bay's Easter weekend

Camping grounds and motels were booked to the brim Easter weekend despite the torrential rain that hammered down throughout the Bay.

Metservice recorded 127 mm of rain from Thursday to Sunday, which didn't dampen the spirits of holidaymakers and sportsgoers from venturing into the region.

Accommodation providers spoken to by the Bay of Plenty Times after the weekend said vacancies were snapped up because of punters heading to the 52nd National Jazz Festival, the 2014 National BMX Championships and the Basketball Pacific Easter Tournament.

Tauranga Motel Association president Gail Fagan said there was the odd cancellation in motel bookings because of the bad weather "but the beds were sold straight away because there is never enough accommodation in the Mount or Tauranga for Easter.

"They [beds] were gone within 10 minutes," she said.

Ms Fagan said the high density of visitors to the Bay was no different to any other year for the long weekend.

Tauranga Tourist Park assistant manager Donna Hare said the park had a really good weekend with people queuing at the gates for accommodation.

"The ones who did (cancel) we managed to fill up again. We had people queuing up at the gate.

"There was so much happening this weekend that people had to commit to staying. There was the basketball, the BMX champs and the jazz festival."

People were not put off by the bad weather but were starting to head home yesterday, she said.

However, Sapphire Springs Holiday Park's Rachel Butterworth said only the accommodation side of their park was full.

"We have had lots of phone calls for accommodation right up and even on the day asking for accommodation."

The park had some cancellations due to the rain, but with people just postponing to next weekend, she said.