Editorial: All bright and shiny for HB tourism

Hawke's Bay Tourism chief Annie Dundas.

The timing of yesterday's story about the Hawke's Bay job market continuing to spark and the future of tourism appearing very bright was perfect.

For outside the sky was blue and sun was glowing nicely.

It was what those of a more "mature" age amidst the populace would have described as a "typical Hawke's Bay day".

Oh yes, a sprinkle of frost upon the ground but not a southerly breeze to be felt, and after a frosty start you always get the sunshine.

Here on the relatively sheltered eastern seaboard we dodge plenty of bullets when many parts of the land get meteorologically machine-gunned.

It is a long-standing reputation of ours and it is no secret.

For anyone outside the Bay seeking a weekend's respite from dashing southerly clouds or driving rain then Hawke's Bay is a pretty sound option.

As Hawke's Bay Tourism chief Annie Dundas pointed out - the good summer season has flowed into winter.

Accommodation figures have been up ... as have been the number of job advertisements for the third month in a row.

And the real estate market has been buoyant with buyers from outside coming for more than the prices - the landscape and lifestyle here is pretty darned good.

Chamber of Commerce chief Wayne Walford replied "positive energy" when it came to describing the feeling he had for the state of the region, and I'd go along with that.

All things considered, there is a pretty good feeling out there, and when you see an Art Deco tour in central Napier taking place with seven or eight visitors involved on a less than clement mid-July day then hey, things are pretty positive.

People are coming here all year round and tourism is clearly a massive boon for the region.

Then there is the Jetstar part of the picture.

Long may it all continue to grow, because in tourism job terms you'll always need more people to deal with ... more people.