Overseas students contribute substantially to the New Zealand economy and, closer to home, to Rotorua's economy.
Our city is host to about 4000 international students at Waiariki Institute of Technology alone and they inject millions into the local economy. More than half of them come from India. As we reported yesterday,
India has overtaken Japan to be New Zealand's third-largest source of international students with China and South Korea respectively topping the charts.
At the weekend Rotorua's local Indian association celebrated its 75th jubilee, an impressive milestone for any organisation.
There are a number of popular Indian celebrations and events held every year in our city, underlining that we have a very strong Indian community here.
It all adds colour to the already culturally strong and diverse world community in Rotorua, a place where immigrants from around the world come to live, work and study.
Rotorua will always identify and be identified very strongly with its Maori culture and heritage. That is a part of our community which set the foundation for the city's reputation worldwide as a tourist destination.
But as time goes on, we become an increasingly diverse city - and all the more interesting and rounded for it.
