Tourism Bay of Plenty general manager Rhys Arrowsmith enjoys one of the South Pacific's favourite holiday spots, the Mount Main Beach.Photo/John Borren
Tourism Bay of Plenty general manager Rhys Arrowsmith enjoys one of the South Pacific's favourite holiday spots, the Mount Main Beach.Photo/John Borren
Mount Maunganui Main Beach has been voted one of the top four beaches in the South Pacific by leading international holiday review website TripAdvisor.
The internet site, which helped people to plan and book their holidays by posting millions of holidaymaker reviews, has also named Main Beach as New Zealand'stop beach.
The unbiased feedback has been welcomed by Tourism Bay of Plenty general manager Rhys Arrowsmith after the Mount failed to feature in the Automobile Association's poll to find New Zealand's favourite beach.
"It is a more pure form of accolade. It is a way to properly measure people's feelings - this is the beauty of the internet," he said.
TripAdvisor was people reviewing the places they had stayed. "If you want to get the pulse of accommodation and destinations, it is an internationally recognised place to go."
Mr Arrowsmith said it was the first time he could recall that the scalloped beach and its "Eiffel Tower" of Mauao had been ranked so highly as an international favourite.
He said in some ways the voting did not come as a surprise. He had travelled the world and it was rare to find a coastline as stunning as the Mount. It was not over-crowded, was easy to access and did not have "beasties" unfriendly to humans.
Petra-Lee Osbourne, of Sidetrack Cafe, said she liked the way the area was evolving and had seen more international travellers arriving in February and March when the weather was settled and Kiwi holidaymakers were back at work.
"It is a nice destination with the hot pools, cafes and Mauao. There are a lot of other things than just the beach."
Oceanside managing director Margaret Gillard said one of their guests from Miami had just extended their holiday.
"They can't believe what a paradise it is."
Mount Mainstreet manager Leanne Brown said it was a fantastic result that they could leverage off to increase visitors to the shopping centre.
"We need to use it to our advantage. It elevates us and brands us as a great destination."
Mayor Stuart Crosby said the Mount was blessed with one of the world's most beautiful white sand beaches. Although there were other stunning beaches in New Zealand, the difference at the Mount was the harbour beach of Pilot Bay was only a short walk from the surf beach. "It is our biggest playground."
Ohauiti's Sarah Williams was born and bred in the Bay of Plenty and has always loved going over to Mount Maunganui's golden beaches. "It was so cool when we were young, so packed with young kids," she said.
Sarah Williams has been enjoying Mount Main Beach since she was a little girl. PHOTO/RUTH KEBER
