The influx of spending was felt relatively evenly across the board with all parts of Hawke's Bay benefiting. Photo / File
The influx of spending was felt relatively evenly across the board with all parts of Hawke's Bay benefiting. Photo / File
Hawke's Bay retailers are smiling in the Christmas sun as a golden year of consumer spending in the region reaches its peak.
Business Hawke's Bay's latest quarterly report shows just how good 2019 has been for shop owners in general, with electronic card consumer spending increasing by 7.5 per centover the year to September 2019.
It amounts to a $33 million increase from the same time last year - from $447m to $480m.
The Marketview measured statistics also show the region is exceeding the national increase by more than double, with that sitting at an increase of just 3.4 per cent.
This influx of spending was spread across the board, no one town or city struggling.
Hastings continued to show its strong form with an increase of 8.6 per cent, while smaller regions made a move with Wairoa, 8.1 per cent, and Central Hawke's Bay, 7.5 per cent, showing strong results and Napier, 6.3 per cent, although strong tailing the region.
She said many households and businesses are seeing strong investment in the region, which increased consumers' willingness to spend instead of save.
"This sustained performance is instilling a sense of confidence and optimism within our business community and our people," Neville said.
"Our regional challenge is to ensure that our thriving economy supports sustainable and inclusive growth, engaging every whanau."
Carolyn Neville said that everything is pointing at Hawke's Bay's economy to continue to bolster and improve heading into Christmas and over the coming years. Photo / File
The busy Christmas period combined with an expected strong tourism season, had already brought significant growth in the last quarter.
A spokeswoman from local Hastings business Coco & Co said Christmas was looking like showing a similar trend.
"A lot of the stores in the area like us have been doing well in recent times but as usual in the lead up to Christmas it just gets busier and it seems it has picked up a little bit more than normal."
A random sample of shoppers interviewed on the street by Hawke's Bay Today suggested a less optimistic view, with everyone spoken to saying they'll be spending either an equal amount or less than last Christmas.
Adrian Thornton, 51, of Hastings said he'd be spending less but that was only because his kids were all grown up.
Carolyn Catt, 69, of Napier said she'd be spending the same amount this Christmas.
"It'll be hard to spend any less than last year."
Both tourism spending and guest nights saw slight increases in Hawke's Bay with spending up 3.1 per cent in the year to September 2019 same as the national increase, showing an increase spending of around $20m, up from $648 million the year prior.
Guest nights increased by more than 40,000, but were up just 1.2 per cent.
Neville said Hawke's Bay was "buzzing" heading in to what was the key economic time of the year for the region.
The region's economy has also regained one of the top positions in ASB's Regional Economic Scoreboard.
After falling from first to fifth last quarter, Hawke's Bay has pulled back into second place just behind Gisborne.
"After a one-quarter hiatus, Hawke's Bay is back snapping at Gisborne's heels on the Scoreboard," ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said.
"Given that the Bay has claimed the silver medal this quarter, our move for the region to retain its five-star rating last quarter has proved justified."
The accommodation and retail sectors were the region's hotspots over the September quarter, with Tuffley saying he expected the economic good times to roll on in 2020.
