The Whakarewarewa Forest has more than 200km of mountain biking trails. Photo / Ben Fraser
A $500,000 project has taken Rotorua’s scenic Whakarewarewa Forest Loop mountain biking trail fully off-road.
Tourism Minister Louise Upston visited the forest today to announce a $250,000 Government investment into improving the route, which is one of New Zealand’s 23 Great Rides.
Rotorua Lakes Council also contributed $250,000 from its Annual Plan forest upgrades budget.
A council media release said the upgrades add about 6km to the loop trail, and reroute two sections into the forest and away from Te Ara Ahi concrete cycleway alongside State Highway 5.
The re-routes include:
Construction was completed late last year by local companies including Empire of Dirt, Velo Solutions, Ground Base Solutions, Great Rides and the Rotorua Trails Trust team.
Signage and seating are expected to be installed by March.
Designed for riders of all ages and abilities, most of the loop trail is Grade 2 and suitable for beginners.
It offers views of geothermal sites, lakes, forests and cultural landmarks, the council said.
Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell said mountain biking was a “massive drawcard for visitors” and contributed more than $130 million in spending a year.
“We’re grateful to the Government for recognising the importance of investing in our world-class trails.”
Upston told Local Democracy Reporting she recognised funding was often the “tipping point” for whether these sorts of projects happened or not and was happy to have invested in the track.
As for riding the trail herself, the Taupō MP was still a “beginner” mountain bike rider but looked forward to coming back and seeing how the trail was performing.
In a statement, she said the funding was among several cycle trail infrastructure announcements as part of the new $70m Major Events and Tourism Package.
The improvements would bring more visitors to Rotorua and give riders a better, safer experience on New Zealand’s “newest Great Ride”.
She said an increase in visitor numbers would benefit local businesses, jobs and the economy.
“It’s a win for tourism, a win for safety and a win for everyone who loves to ride.”
Rotorua Trails Trust chairman Grant Utteridge said Rotorua had long been regarded as the home of mountain biking in New Zealand, but it now had a truly “world-class mountain biking loop” for all riders.
“Over the last five years our surveys have consistently said that the concrete path was terrible because it wasn’t a great experience or it was really good because it was fast and you could get back to the forest,” Utteridge said in humour.
“But we took on board the terrible nature and largely through the leadership of the council we can now celebrate the new off-road section.”
He said early feedback from users had been “incredibly positive”.
RotoruaNZ chief executive Andrew Wilson said the loop track is an “essential asset” for Rotorua’s visitor and tourism economy.
“This is big business for us,” he told onlookers braving the heavy rain at the announcement on Thursday.
The Government launched the $50m National Cycleway Fund (Ngā Haerenga) to kickstart the Ngā Haerenga Great Rides project in 2009, the council statement said.
The original Whakarewarewa Forest development, which included the loop trail, received $7.09m from the Government.
The Whakarewarewa Forest Loop opened in stages during 2020 and was added to the Great Rides network in 2022.
Mathew Nash is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in the UK for eight years.
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.