World Cup lifts HB tourism figures

Hawke's Bay had an international visitor increase of 2.6 per cent during July to October compared with the same period last year.

This equated to around 24,000 guest nights, according to Hawke's Bay Tourism's second quarter report.

The report states visitor numbers and financial figures the organisation has received since its creation in July last year, and compares them with the same periods in 2010.

Much of the increase was linked to the Rugby World Cup. Domestic travel was down, which the report attributed to New Zealanders choosing to spend their money on rugby tickets rather than travel.

Hawke's Bay Tourism general manager Annie Dundas said it was hard to pinpoint exactly how much of the increase was due to the World Cup, but the trend had continued into November.

"It is always hard to know and the Rugby World Cup is one of those things that is always going to be up," she said. "But one of the telling things was the i-SITEs - their visitors were up enormously."

She said the Napier i-SITE registered 47 per cent more foot traffic, and a 92 per cent increase in revenue from the same period the year before, and Hastings had a 76 per cent increase in operator bookings.

Despite the overall increase in tourism, some financial projections have been reduced after Hawke's Bay Tourism's first six months operating, which Ms Dundas believed "was a reflection of the times we're in".

A target of 250 full fee paying members was unlikely to be met, so there would be an expected reduction of $57,000 in partner revenue. Pledge funding has been reduced by $25,000, and unnamed external revenue was over budgeted by $41,000 after two projects were assumed to be self-funding but in fact were not.

Ms Dundas said it was unlikely that would occur again in Hawke's Bay Tourism's second year.

It has undertaken a range of initiatives to promote Hawke's Bay both domestically and internationally, such as the creation and marketing of the "Hawke's Bay" brand, the hosting of 57 different media, and developing infrastructure such as the cycle trails.

Currently 140km of cycle trails have been constructed in the Hawke's Bay region, and almost half of the $5.5 million budgeted for the project has been spent by the Hawke's Bay Regional Council.

Brent Stuart, co-owner of Bike D'Vine Winery and Sightseeing Tours, said January was already the busiest month in his business' 10-year history.

"Last January was a record and we've surpassed that substantially," he said. "As far as numbers are concerned, it's probably an extra 150 people or something like that. For this month we're looking at about 500 people in total."

Mr Stuart thought the recent promotion of bike trails may have had an effect on the business. He said they'd also had a lot more local customers.

Hawke's Bay Tourism's report was to be presented at the regional council's corporate and strategic committee meeting today, alongside updates on the current oil and gas exploration plans, public transport and, in the public-excluded section, the appointment of directors to the investment company transition board.