$8m tourism plan attracts international attention

1.00pm

An $8.3 million development planned for one of Northland's top tourist spots has caught the eye of a major international tourism chain.

The Urupukapuka Island resort in the Bay of Islands could soon be the site of a major tourist accommodation development able to accommodate 178 people a night.

Zane Grey Resort Ltd has lodged a resource consent to transform its existing facilities at Otehei Bay from basic huts and cabins able to sleep up to 80 people, to a modern, environmentally friendly resort.

The company -- owned by Wayne Dunning, a former North Auckland rugby halfback, Robert Willoughby, and Richard Witehira -- has owned the resort since 1999.

Mr Dunning said the company attended Trenz, New Zealand's primary tourism expo, this year where a "major international chain" was "very, very keen" to market and possibly manage the resort once it was redeveloped.

"The feedback has been extremely positive," Mr Dunning said. He declined to name the chain.

The publicly notified resource consents application included eleven two-storey chalets, four single-storey backpacker buildings, two staff accommodation buildings, a conference facility, three boat storage buildings and a swimming pool and tennis court.

The resort is on 4.8 hectares leased from the Crown, a 30-minute ferry ride from Paihia.

Mr Dunning said the project would also restore American author and big game fishing enthusiast Zane Grey's 1920s cottage.

He described the existing accommodation as "very basic". It was used mainly by campers and was popular with school groups.

He said a special feature of the proposed development was that buildings, a new sewage treatment plant, electricity generators and decking would all be above the ground, out of sensitivity to local iwi concerns about digging on the island.

Mr Dunning said the company had to develop the resort in order to make it "financially viable and economically sustainable".

At present the core business was servicing passengers off Fullers tourist boats in the island's restaurant.

There was "no question" that the development would attract visitors, he said. "Because of the change in the standard of accommodation, it's going to attract a slightly different type of visitor. Some of the people that have been staying there have been coming for the summer holidays for 15 years with their families. We would expect them to come back."

He said the backpacker market no longer consisted of people who survived on a tin of baked beans every night -- these days they wanted facilities such as en-suite bathrooms.

But Mr Dunning said the resort would not be "up market". Instead it would be "middle market". "The total project is estimated at $8.3 million," he said. The company was considering various funding options.

Mr Dunning said the resort development was likely to hire more staff. In peak season, 10 people worked at the site and that figure would probably double.

Submissions on the proposal close with Northland Regional Council and Far North District Council on August 11.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)