New mountain bike park for Rotorua

Mountain biking on Mount Ngongotaha. FILE

The Government has announced it will invest $225,000 in a project to develop a Skyline Mountain Bike Gravity Park in Rotorua.

Prime Minister and Tourism Minister John Key today announced the Government's Tourism Growth Partnership is investing in six projects to grow the tourism sector in New Zealand.

One of them is a $225,000 investment in Skyline Enterprises Ltd's Skyline Mountain Bike Gravity Park - matching the $225,000 invested by the company.

The Skyline Gravity Park is targeting the fast growth market of mountain biking and will offer a year round gondola accessed bike park. The vision is to create a world class downhill mountain bike trail system capable of hosting international events.

The park will provide trail options for all skill levels from beginners to advanced riders. Several mountain bike trails are planned, providing at least 12km in total. There will be dedicated gondola cabins designed to take up to four bikes and riders per trip giving initial capacity of 3000 downhill runs per day.

The park will offer half day passes through to a full year pass for unlimited gondola and downhill mountain bike trail access during opening times.

The programme is scheduled to start in July. Commercial partners are Skyline Rotorua, Multi Day Adventures and Empire of Dirt.

Under the Tourism Growth Partnership, the Government has made $32 million available over four years to support innovative projects that will create new opportunities and overcome barriers to growth in the tourism sector.

The Tourism Growth Partnership is a co-investment programme. For each project approved for investment, the Government will provide up to 50 per cent of the required funding.

"Tourism is one of New Zealand's largest export earners and has a crucial role to grow our economy," Mr Key said.

The Tourism Growth Partnership is part of a $158 million investment Government has made in tourism.

A second round of funding is now open for applications and will close at the end of the month.