Tourism spending up 4 per cent in the Bay of Plenty

Samantha Cameron says the Waimarino Adventure Park has been busier than ever. Photo/ Andrew Warner

The Bay of Plenty's popularity continues to grow as data shows tourists spent $990 million in the region from January to November last year.

According to the latest data, this was an increase of 4 per cent compared with the previous year.

Tourism Bay of Plenty marketing manager Kath Low said the organisation was "delighted" to see visitor spending increase particularly with international tourists.

"October and November were, as ever, popular months for visitors to flock to our region due to the warming weather [and] sea temperatures, and many exciting events taking place regionally," she said.

International visitor spend in the year to November 2017 was $208m, up 8 per cent compared with November 2016.

Low said this increase was due to marketing efforts which targeted specific international groups.

"The markets we target are those with typical visitation periods outside of the already popular summer months.

"Those with longer stay periods and those with high spend per visitor so that our region feels the positive effects of welcoming visitors without as much of the burden on infrastructure to accommodate them."

Domestic tourists spent $782m in the year to November 2017 which was a 3 per cent increase on the previous year.

"We are fortunate to have a domestic reputation as a fantastic place to holiday," Low said.

Waimarino Adventure Park marketing manager Samantha Cameron said the business had been busier than ever.

"We've definitely seen an increase in a wide range of people visiting us," Cameron said.

Cameron said she had seen a lot of domestic tourists visiting the adventure park and international tourists made up the largest proportion of the kayak tours.

The latest data did not surprise Cameron as she said the Bay of Plenty had "so much to offer".

The increase in visitor spending could be seen throughout the wider Bay of Plenty as $1.8 billion was spent in the year to November 2017 in the whole region, up 5 per cent compared with the previous year.

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment manager of sector trends, Mark Gordon, said of this tourism spend, international visitors spent $568m, up 6 per cent compared with the year to November 2016, and domestic tourists spent $1.2b which was up 5 per cent.

"When it comes to the monthly expenditure, tourism spend in Bay of Plenty for the month of November 2017 is up 10 per cent compared with the month of November 2016," Gordon said.