Editorial: Waitangi upgrade overdue

Treaty House at the Waitangi treaty grounds.

In 1983, Prince Charles and Princess Diana opened the visitor centre at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.

They probably accounted for a decent proportion of tourists that year, and while the rest of the tourism attractions in the area have progressed, the centre hasn't moved at the same rate.

However, the Waitangi National Trust has started on a $1.7 million project that will see the visitor centre made bigger and better.

It's a long overdue investment and reflects the importance of tourism as a pillar that holds up this region's economy.

And it had to happen, to keep in step with other growth, like the $14 million Te Kongahu Museum of Waitangi that opened in February.

Interesting to be reminded of the mix of tourists or visitors that come to Northland - 55 per cent are from overseas.

And if you have had the sense that there were more tourists around this year, you were right.

"Bed nights" - the phrase that refers to the number of night a visitor stays in Northland - are up year on year. In February, they grew 5.8 percent compared to February 2015, March 11.5 and then in April - boom, up 22 percent from April 2015.

Northland's economy is only going to continue to benefit from a sector that provides some stability in a region that relies too heavily on the boom and bust of agriculture and forestry.

If investment of the sort we are seeing in Waitangi continues, and we respect the region's natural environment that attracts so many visitors, then it augurs well.

Smart investors could do worse than to plant long-term economic seeds in Northland's tourism sector.