Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post / Lifestyle

Downward spiral of Ruapehu infrastructure could leave tourists out in the cold

By Sharon Brettkelly
RNZ·
4 Apr, 2024 07:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The 2024 ski season puts Ruapehu's tourism in an even more precarious position. Photo / Supplied

The 2024 ski season puts Ruapehu's tourism in an even more precarious position. Photo / Supplied

- RNZ, The Detail

The ski season is fast approaching and the year’s first snow has fallen but Mt Ruapehu’s two skifields are still surrounded by uncertainty.

The deal for Tūroa’s new owner, Pure Tūroa, won’t go unconditional until the Department of Conservation grants a concession and Cabinet gives its approval, while Whakapapa remains in the hands of government-appointed receivers who are expected to run the skifield this winter.

“It’s complicated,” says Newsroom business journalist Andrew Bevin, who has written more than 30 stories on the mountain’s troubles; from the collapse of the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL) to the tussle between the creditors who are owed a total of $70 million, and the on-again, off-again buyers.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“You’ve got multiple government departments, multiple ministers, you’ve got the receivers, you’ve got the liquidators, you’ve got the people who paid to build the Sky Waka gondola on Whakapapa, you’ve got the life pass holders,” Bevin told RNZ’s The Detail.

“Obviously, Mt Ruapehu is so important to so many different iwi and hapū groups who do need to have a say. It’s thought of as an ancestor not a mountain, it’s very important.”

He outlines the many twists and turns of the business since RAL went into voluntary administration in late 2022, after Covid-related lockdowns and unfavourable weather dragged down visitor numbers.

Two favoured buyers were close to taking over the skifields last year but they failed to get the required vote of approval from the majority of creditors, including thousands of life pass holders.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“The numbers were obviously overwhelmingly swayed to them but the Government had the money. And so there was this stalemate situation where the Government’s thing didn’t pass and the life pass holders motion didn’t pass either because the Government vetoed that,” he says.

The 'sense of doom' is not helped by the permanently-closed Chateau Tongariro.
The 'sense of doom' is not helped by the permanently-closed Chateau Tongariro.

He explains how the Government is a creditor, owed more than $40 million through MBIE’s regional development arm Kānoa but it has also poured in an “eyewatering” $20 million in bailout funds.

The Detail also looks at the role of iwi and why decisions over the sale of the skifields could lead to further legal action.

Waikato Times journalist Matthew Martin says the ongoing uncertainty has left business operators, mayors and other locals feeling frustrated and disappointed.

The North Island’s only commercial skifields are worth about $100 million to the region but their drawn-out troubles have left many with a sense of doom, not helped by the permanently-closed Chateau Tongariro, he says.

“The Chateau is in such dire need of an upgrade. This is not a three or four-million-dollar job. To upgrade the Chateau to current building standards and earthquake strengthening will cost more than $30 million.

“Who is going to pick up that tab? Is it DoC, is it the former leaseholders, is it new owners? Who knows? Do you want to buy a building that’s got $30 million worth of problems?”

- RNZ Find out how to listen to and follow The Detail here.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

Private ambulance operators accused of doctoring records to obtain morphine and fentanyl

09 Jun 07:00 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua CBD crash: Woman charged with wounding with intent

09 Jun 06:09 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

'The man cannot be trusted': Former rogue cop John Dewar jailed for company theft

09 Jun 06:00 AM

Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Private ambulance operators accused of doctoring records to obtain morphine and fentanyl

Private ambulance operators accused of doctoring records to obtain morphine and fentanyl

09 Jun 07:00 AM

The couple claimed to treat a man who had been dead for three years.

Rotorua CBD crash: Woman charged with wounding with intent

Rotorua CBD crash: Woman charged with wounding with intent

09 Jun 06:09 AM
'The man cannot be trusted': Former rogue cop John Dewar jailed for company theft

'The man cannot be trusted': Former rogue cop John Dewar jailed for company theft

09 Jun 06:00 AM
Over 1200 exhibitions to open at Fieldays 2025

Over 1200 exhibitions to open at Fieldays 2025

09 Jun 05:03 AM
Clean water fuelling Pacific futures
sponsored

Clean water fuelling Pacific futures

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP