The energy sector is a big contributor to the Taupō district's gross domestic product. Photo / Supplied
The energy sector is a big contributor to the Taupō district's gross domestic product. Photo / Supplied
The Taupō economy had a boomer year despite the lingering effects of the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, new figures show.
Last week economic agency Infometrics released figures for the Taupō district for the year ending June 2021.
Critically the statistics start on July 1, 2020, and don't include when the TaupōDistrict was recently at Covid-19 alert levels three and four. The figures do include the period in August 2020 when Auckland was in lockdown and tourists were unable to travel to Taupō.
The figures compare the spend in the Taupō district this year with last year, with the Waikato and the rest of New Zealand.
The spend indicators are GDP, traffic flow, consumer spending, employment, Jobseeker Support recipients, tourism spend, health enrolments, number of residential consents issued, value of commercial and industrial consents issued, house values, the number of house sales, the number of cars registered, the number of commercial vehicles registered.
Amplify chief executive office Rick Keehan said it was pleasing to see that gross domestic product was up 4.5 per cent for the Taupō district, compared to the rest of New Zealand where GDP is up 4.2 per cent.
He said a massive contributor to the district's GDP is the growing energy sector. Other drivers were tourism, the residential building sector and civil construction.
The highlights are the massive jump in the amount of money tourists bring into the economy. In the previous year ending June 2020, tourists (national and international) spent $323 million. In the year ending June 2021 domestic tourists spent $54 million more, a whopping $377 million in total.
Rick said Taupō had done well compared to other regions and the Infometrics report captured the period in 2020 when Auckland came out of lockdown "in the shoulder season and there was a lot of pent up demand from domestic visitors".
He said the lack of international visitors has affected the big tourism operators.
"They have merged, downsized and adapted.
"Things are not great for the big operators but they are hanging in there."
He said feedback is along the lines of 'we've survived this long, let's just carry on'.
Amplify chief executive officer Rick Keehan. Photo / Supplied
One unexpected source of visitor revenue is from recently arrived immigrants. Rick says they are enjoying coming to Taupō and experiencing the tourist attractions.
Dairy farmers are expected to reap $389m in the season ending May 2021. It is predicted Taupō dairy farmers will inject an extra $31million into the economy compared to the previous season.
Rick said dairy farmers are at the mercy of international markets and the biggest challenge they face at the moment is getting enough people to do the work.
"Dairy farmers are short on staff right across the board, from farm managers to skilled labourers."
He said the labour shortage was a problem across all industries in the district.
"There is plenty of work out there, but employers can't find the labour."
Temporary visa holders had left the country, and he said where there used to be a pool of 100,000 or so migrants now only about 8000 were in New Zealand.
Rick said the pandemic has swung labour from the tourism sector into other industries.
"This is something new. People are moving across industries and transitioning their skill set. Before the pandemic, people would move up, within their industry. More than ever, employers are keen to upskill their employees."
House prices continue to grow with Taupō values rising by 32 per cent per annum in the June 2021 quarter. The average house value is now $772,000.
