Property beside top tourist site goes to market

This freehold site is up for sale. Photo / Supplied

A two-storey character building opposite the entrance to Rotorua's most iconic tourism attraction Whakarewarewa - The Living Maori Village - has been placed on the market for sale.

Formerly the busy Little Village Backpackers, the property sits on a 688sqm freehold site and has most recently operated as two separate retail areas on the ground floor, with the first floor serving as a restaurant.

The commercial retail building on Tryon St in Whakarewarewa, just seven minutes drive south of the Rotorua CBD, is to be sold by Bayleys at an auction on May 14.

Bayleys Rotorua salesman Mark Slade said the building was in a prime location to draw in business from tourists visiting the popular thermal village next door.

"The potential is there to tap into an existing stream of tourists by transforming this into something like a boutique cafe and coffee bar, or by following the path already paved by the previous occupiers who ran a budget accommodation business."

The Rotorua Tourism 2014 Year Snapshot shows a total of 3.2 million visitor nights were enjoyed by tourists in the region, with 226,000 spent in backpacker accommodation.

Mr Slade said the average length of stay was 2.3 nights and accommodation providers had, on average, 44 per cent occupancy over the course of last year.

"Tourism in this area is not as seasonally affected as other destinations around the country and can form a reliable income base for local ventures."

The building has an Initial Evaluation Procedure (IEP) rating of 70 per cent of New Building Standard (NBS) and is estimated to have been built in 1972. It is zoned "Resort C" in an urban area.