People strolling along Tauranga's waterfront on Queen's Birthday. Photo / George Novak
People strolling along Tauranga's waterfront on Queen's Birthday. Photo / George Novak
Despite a wet start to the long weekend, the sunshine broke through the cloud and Queen's Birthday proved to be a winner for hospitality and accommodation joints in Tauranga.
Bayfair centre manager Steve Ellingford said the mall had a "huge" past few days with the opening of the centre's newdining precinct falling during Queen's Birthday weekend.
Ellingford said the mall saw a 60 per cent increase in visitations compared to last year, with 100,000 people through the door from Thursday to Sunday.
"We thought it would be a big four days but we are absolutely blown away. It's been a massive weekend," he said.
Lone Star Tauranga owner Trevor Donaghy said business over the long weekend had been similar to last year - Saturday night had been a busy night with "everyone coming at once," while the stream of customers on Friday and Sunday night was steady.
While he thought the wet weather did not have much of an impact as customers were only deterred when the weather has extreme, Donaghy said the roadworks in the CBD continued to affect business and getting through winter would pose a challenge.
Pāpāmoa Beach Resort owner Bruce Crosby said the place had been fully booked for the long people, with about 340 people staying at the resort's units and camping sites.
He said people waited to see how the "cruddy" weather on Friday turned out before booking, meaning there was a rush close to the weekend.
