Attitude to motor homes rewarded

Road-travelling tourists who pave their way with money are most welcome in Whangarei.

The city rolls out a red carpet for the many thousands of people who visit the city in motor homes annually, each spending an average $70 a day.

"They're good spenders," Mayor Morris Cutforth said, beaming happily, as he welcomed Motor Caravan Association representatives bearing gifts to a meeting of the Whangarei District Council last week.

Association board member Dawn Fellows presented Mr Cutforth with a framed certificate awarding Whangarei "motor home friendly" status.

The association also gave the council two roadside signs. Expected to be erected alongside State Highway 1 at the northern and southern entrances to Whangarei, they declare the city to be "Motorhome friendly".

"We are welcome here - we know we are not going to get a tap on the door at one or two in the morning with someone telling us to move on," Ms Fellows said.

"The more people we can bring to your city, the more money will come in."

The council heard the association was the fastest growing recreation organisation in the country with membership expected to reach 50,000 by the end of the month, 1600 of them in Northland.

And a truckload of cash could roll into Whangarei if the association presses on with plans to hold its Easter rally in the city in 2018.

The council heard up to 1000 motor homes could come north for the event, and that could mean they probably taking over the whole of Kensington Park.

A similar rally at Kaikohe in 2009 brought $1.6 million into the local economy.

Mr Cutforth said he had a lot of friends who owned motor homes.

Whangarei loved motor home visitors because of the respect they showed for the city, which provided caravan sites close to supermarkets, restaurants, tourist attractions and facilities for the disposal of motor home waste, he said.