Tourism growth industry in North

Tourism is worth about $800 million a year to Northland's economy, with the sector rebounding from tough economic times to help lead the region's recovery, tourism boss Brian Roberts says.
Latest figures from Statistics New Zealand show that tourism has taken the national top spot from the dairy industry as the economy's biggest export sector. The Tourism Satellite Account showed tourism expenditure increased 2.1 per cent in the year ended March to $22.4 billion, with spending by international tourists up 1.6 per cent to $9.5 billion.
Destination Northland boss Mr Roberts said tourism was still second to pastoral agriculture as Northland's biggest money earner, but the sector was delighted with the turnaround it had experienced, with growing numbers of Australians driving the increase.
"For the last year Northland (tourism) hasn't been doing too bad considering we've had a recession. We've had about 3 per cent growth, compared to the national average of just over 2 per cent," Mr Roberts said.
"We've done far better than we were expecting to and the recession has actually helped in one way. It's kept New Zealanders from travelling overseas and the Auckland market has been good for us as people look to holiday in New Zealand instead of heading overseas."
Another growth area has been a big increase in tourists from Australia. "The whole country had a good increase in Australian tourists, and we got more than our fair share of that growth," Mr Roberts said.
And with the 2010/2011 cruise ship season bringing a record 36 cruise ships to the Bay of Islands, and an estimated 44,000 passengers and 20,000 crew, the future was looking rosy, he said.
"But we've also had things like the Waitangi National Trust winning the New Zealand Tourism 2010 Award for Outstanding Contribution to Tourism and many operators have invested in upgrading their facilities and expanding," Mr Roberts said.
"We've also had Russell's Eagles Nest voted the world's best luxury coastal hotel at the World Luxury Hotel Awards and just last month the Tutukaka Coast named as one of the top three coastlines in the world by National Geographic Traveller."
He said all this publicity was putting Northland's tourism industry firmly on the international stage.
Mr Roberts said with plans to four-lane State Highway 1 all the way from Auckland, Northland would become an even more attractive region to visit for other Kiwis.
"Our biggest challenge though, is to get more of those tourists who head south when they leave Auckland International Airport to head north instead."