Cafés reopened after several days closed near the Mount Maunganui landslip area while recovery efforts continued. Photo / Corey Fleming
Mount Maunganui businesses facing ongoing financial pain after January’s slip have demanded better council support and communication in a heated meeting.
Mayor Mahé Drysdale called Tauranga City Council’s information session for businesses, held at Classic Flyers on Monday night, “overdue”.
Mauao remains closed following the January 22 landslide that killed six holidaymakers. Several facilities at its base — including the damaged campground and Mount Hot Pools — are also shut.
The surrounding area, including several businesses, was cordoned off for six days during the initial emergency landslide operation.
At Monday’s event, several business owners said they had lost significant revenue due to forced closures and reduced visitor numbers, and asked what support the council would provide.
Sidetrack Cafe owner Mike Waghorn said the council should “front up” and offer some rates relief.
Drysdale said the council had considered rates relief but was not offering it.
He said the landslide was a natural disaster and the council could not be held responsible for business losses.
“We do not have the financial resources to replace the losses to businesses.”
Beach Hut Café owner Michelle Craig compared the situation to the Rena oil spill, when affected businesses received wage subsidies.
“This [January closure] was through no fault of our own. This is not because our businesses have failed or because we’ve failed to take special measures against any risk.
“We have been neglected by the council repeatedly.”
Craig said poor communication compounded the situation from “the very beginning”.
“You didn’t contact us for five-and-a-half days.
“We were all struggling with the emotional turmoil of what had happened. The business owners were wondering, ‘Do I order milk tonight?’”
Drift Clothing owner Jacob Visser said spending in the area was down about 30% following the slip.
He told Local Democracy Reporting that March was “comparable to our slowest month in winter”.
Because the store was outside the cordoned area, Visser said it was ineligible for support from the Mayoral Relief Fund.
“We’re just supposed to cop it without any help.”
During the Q&A, Visser asked the mayor whether the council had foot traffic data. Drysdale was unable to provide figures.
“Your income stays, ours doesn’t,” Visser told Drysdale.
Turkish To Go owner Kemal Seyhan said most of his customers had been campground or hot pools guests.
“If you don’t do something as soon as possible, I’m going to have to close my shop.
“The city is lost. Why would you come to Tauranga, the city centre is dead. If you don’t have the Mount, no one is coming.”
Accommodation provider Mathew Manninen, who operates an Airbnb near the slip site, said uncertainty around Mauao’s reopening had led to a “massive drop-off” in bookings.
Manninen said people were choosing other destinations such as Queenstown and the Coromandel, and that uncertainty around the mountain’s reopening was likely to make summer quieter than last year.
“We aren’t able to offer what we used to.”
He said there was a “big ripple effect” for businesses from having fewer visitors.
He said this would increase competition among accommodation providers.
“It’s a race to the bottom. You just have to do it to survive.”
Pavilion Apartments owner Gail Fagan said the situation was the worst she had ever experienced.
“It’s time to get this place going again.
“I have guests ringing from overseas and all over New Zealand saying, ‘Should I come and stay, the Mount might fall on top of me’.”
Mount Business Association chairwoman Jo Veale told Local Democracy Reporting that Monday’s meeting was the first time she had heard the council acknowledge communication had been slow.
She wished the meeting had been better promoted to improve attendance.
“This is what we needed. I think people will feel that they are valued members of the community when the council front up and said ‘Hey, we’re here, we hear you’.”
Veale said she was concerned about how recovery would be handled, especially considering the response to downtown Tauranga’s years of construction disruption.
“I think the message was quite clear: Don’t do what you did to downtown Tauranga.”
“Empty shops, business foreclosures, we do not want that as a strategy.”
Tourism Bay of Plenty head of strategy and insights Ricard Faire said the meeting highlighted the importance of regular communication with businesses.
He said Mauao’s closure meant the organisation had to adjust its domestic and international marketing.
“We’ve been supporting affected visitor businesses by focusing on all the other attributes the Mount Maunganui area has to offer.”
Ngāti Ranginui chairman Charlie Rahiri, who was appointed as Tauranga City Council’s recovery manager this month, said the meeting helped him understand the community’s frustrations.
“I’ve heard what I needed to hear tonight.
“Everyone’s of the same mind.”
He said his goal was restoring Mauao, the community and the local economy.
Drysdale said the council was still months away from releasing a full recovery plan, and there was no confirmed timeline for reopening the maunga.
He said the Quantitative Risk Assessments for the hot pools and campground were due in July, the Pilot Bay boat ramp was still in the run-out zone for a landslide, and the red sticker on the Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service building was expected to be lifted in the coming weeks. Its next step would be the club’s decision.
Drysdale said the Mayoral Relief Fund had strict eligibility criteria and was intended to help businesses get through short‑term disruption, not replace lost income. He said further funding was unlikely.
He said the meeting was an opportunity for the council to share information and hear feedback.
“We want to be an enabler of helping these businesses, not hindering.”
The council was planning an information meeting at Club Mount Maunganui for the wider community on Thursday, April 30.
Shortly before Monday’s meeting, the council and Mauao Trust issued a joint media statement committing to restoring public access to Mauao in stages.
Evidence-based decisions would be made jointly through their partnership entity, Ngā Poutiriāo ō Mauao, the statement said.
These could only happen after remediation options were fully designed and safety needs met.
Summit access would be easier to restore than the base track, which was more seriously damaged.
Trust chairwoman Matemoana McDonald said Mauao was “a taonga of immense spiritual, cultural and historical importance to Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Pūkenga and Ngāti Ranginui” and its mana must be upheld.
Reopening decisions must put the long-term wellbeing of Mauao and community safety first, she said.
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Ayla Yeoman is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based in Tauranga. She holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in communications, politics and international relations from the University of Auckland, and has been a journalist since 2022.