Is Turangi's reputation intact?

The brutal sexual attack on a sleeping 5-year-old girl in Turangi before Christmas made national headlines and raised Turangi's profile in a way that was both unexpected and unfortunate. But has it permanently damaged Turangi's reputation?

Taupo district mayor Rick Cooper certainly thought so. In an interview before Christmas he said the attack had ruined the hard work that had been done to establish the town as an international tourist destination.

But what do others think? One Wellington family holidaying in Turangi had returned to the town after an enjoyable holiday in 2011, but say when friends heard where they were heading, they tried to dissuade them. The family went ahead with their plans, but it's impossible to know whether any others changed their minds as a result of the publicity.

However, Turangi i-Site Visitor Centre Maryke Wilson says Turangi has been as busy as usual over the holiday period and visitors to the i-Site have not even raised the subject with staff.

``No one has mentioned it to us. None of the people that have come to the centre has said anything,'' she says. ``I did have one phone call from a chap who said he was coming to stay at a Turangi holiday park, and would it be safe. But there's been nothing.''

Maryke says over the Christmas-New Year holiday period visitor numbers in Turangi were up, although bookings for activities were down due to the wet weather.

Her comments are echoed by Turangi Kiwi Holiday Park owner/operator Craig Russell who says the park has not had any negative feedback from visitors about the attack (which did not occur on his premises).

``I think the international market don't really know where Turangi is anyway geographically and if you've travelled overseas you don't read the newspapers so I don't think the international market has noticed the difference,'' he says. ``We haven't had anyone come in and pass negative comment about the town.''

Turangi-Tongariro Community Board chairman Gary Keepa agrees, saying from his conversations with locals, businesspeople and his own observations, he doesn't believe Turangi's reputation has been affected at all.

``The number of people around this year appears to be well up on last year so people still keep coming and the businesses say some of them are as good as last year and some are better than last year.''

He and his wife also run an accommodation business and Gary said they hadn't suffered a loss in business over the holiday period. Some of his visitors have mentioned the attack to him though.

``There's been the odd comment that it was despicable and I said, `Yes, it certainly was', but nothing saying that that had affected their plans.''

Turangi Police officer in charge Senior Sergeant Sue Douglas says although Turangi has issues around alcohol-fuelled violence, she does not believe its problems are worse than in any other town. And she says that there are ``just a handful'' of locals who cause trouble, with the rest of them good, caring people who have been deeply hurt by what happened.

``The vast majority of the Turangi community are really good, law-abiding people who are quite rightly proud of their town.''

She says once the investigation was over, one of the first questions people asked was how the attack would affect Turangi's reputation, but she believed it was not at all representative of Turangi.

``I think the support given to the police through this investigation and the response of the community in relation to the [girl's] family has just been incredible and it makes me really proud to be part of this community.

``People are saying, `This is not us, we're a good community' ... I think this is a safe place to live. ``We are really proud of Turangi and it does hurt to have that sort of thing said about the town.''