District's economy staying buoyant

The numbers may not match other regions but Whanganui's economy remains buoyant. Photo/Bevan Conley.

The numbers and dollar value may not be matching some other parts of the country, but Whanganui's economy continues to be written in black ink rather than red.

In July the Business Whanganui "report card" showed the city and district's economy was showing positive growth. Now, two months later, it's reporting a continuation of that trend.

Business Whanganui, works under the umbrella of Whanganui and Partners, the Whanganui District Council's economic development unit and manager Chris Heywood said the positive mood is ongoing.

"We're not beating a lot of other regions but we've got to say it's certainly buoyant. The point is we're not missing out," Mr Heywood said.

He said there were a significant number of major construction jobs in the pipeline, including the rebuild of the wastewater treatment plant and the pilot training academy at Whanganui's airport.

"In terms of the economy the job's never really done but at least we're not in decline."
Car sales had been another bright light showing the way for the region's economy.

"Car sales are always a good indicator because they're usually the last thing people spend their money on when things are tight."

Mr Heywood said in real estate, median house prices across the city and district continued to ramp upward.

And Whanganui's continuing its rise with local tourism results and topped the list of the country's regional tourism organisations for month to month regional tourism expenditure.

"Month to month growth for the last 12 months ending July in Whanganui shows a 31.6 per cent increase for regional expenditure on tourism and this puts Whanganui firmly at the top of the list," he said.

"The total expenditure for the year includes national and international visitors with 84 per cent coming from other Kiwis visiting the district. The national rate for the same period is 4.1 per cent."

Mr Heywood said while in terms of total dollar figures Whanganui makes up only a small portion of national tourism expenditure "these figures show a significant shift with people spending more during their stay and staying longer in Whanganui".

Using data gathered from electronic bank cards activity, Business Whanganui said all but two of 14 business sectors have enjoyed positive growth.

New car sales, building consents, tourism visitor nights, house sales and accommodation were all trending up. So too was business in cafe/restaurants, food retailing, takeaways, hardware/homeware, furniture and flooring and other retail. The only drops in spend had been in the area of fuel and apparel.

Mr Heywood said the apparel sector was still being affected by changed market dynamics while the fuel spend was down because of lower pump prices "which in effect is a positive".