Early signs indicate busy summer season for Whanganui visitors

Kai Iwi Beach Holiday Park is nearly fully booked for the summer season. Photo / NZME

New experiences, marketing and popular events have Whanganui tourism operators hopeful for a busy summer.

Infometrics data revealed the Whanganui District’s tourism expenditure to March was up 4.8% from the previous year.

Nearly $192 million was spent during the 12 months.

By comparison, New Zealand’s overall expenditure remained the same.

Whanganui & Partners’ visitor industries strategic lead Paul Chaplow expected “a really strong visitor spend this summer”.

“We are pushing domestic tourism to get people to come to Whanganui,” he said.

“We have consistently been really strong in domestic tourism in the last five years, being in the top five regions for tourism growth."

International visitors contributed 18.4% of the spending in Whanganui District in 2025, while domestic visitors contributed 81.5%.

Chaplow said there had been a focus on marketing campaigns to give people a virtual “flavour” of Whanganui.

“Feature events are always a strong drawcard; Cemetery Circuit, Vintage Weekend, Artists Open Studios - that will always attract a good crowd,” Chaplow said.

“We are constantly pushing an awareness, we are constantly putting Whanganui on the map as a place to come and visit.

“We are trying to push and change the perception of old, to say that we are no longer, not that we ever were, a rough place, but there has been that perception way back when the gang patch-type scenario was in play.”

In September, a collaborative project resulted in new signage and mobile guides being installed to help people explore Whanganui in a new way.

Whanganui & Partners visitor industries strategic lead Paul Chaplow (left), with Stitchbird director Lily Frederikse, helped launch a new signage and audio experience to discover Whanganui's history. Photo / Fin Ocheduszko Brown

Whanganui is also set to benefit from a funding boost for Tohu Whenua – a countrywide visitor programme developed to promote heritage sites and boost local economies.

Tohu Whenua sites in Whanganui are expected to officially launch in mid or late 2026.

Conservation Minister Tama Potaka said visits to some sites included in the Tohu Whenua project had increased 150% within the first year.

Kai Iwi Beach Holiday Park manager Zane Hair said the build-up to Christmas had been busy and he expected it would continue into January as it had last summer.

“We are looking at a bumper summer,” Hair said.

“We’re pretty full-booked. We have a couple of sites available but they’ll get snapped up by the last-minuters.

“We are all go, we’re all prepping for it - a little bit like D-Day.”

Hair said there had been a mix of domestic and international tourists who visited before it got even busier.

Siena Motor Lodge proprietor Ronald Wheeler hoped for a busy summer after a difficult winter.

“We really are hoping, it’s been a pretty hard year,” Wheeler said.

“October and November did a recovery which may indicate a change.

“It’s such an unpredictable industry at the moment. People don’t travel as much as they used to and people don’t have as much money as they used to have.”

Tracy Marshall, of Whanganui Tours and Mail Run, said there had been a variety of different visitors, with international tourists outweighing domestic.

“It’s looking pretty good for us this summer; we have a few bookings coming through,” she said.

“It’s slower than previous years. The cycle tours have been a bit slower but the mail tour is always an easy one to do because it’s Monday to Friday and it goes regardless.”

Chaplow said the economy was positively turning and tourism was a discretionary spend.

“I think things are getting better so I assume that will support more travel and more spend,” he said.

“With marketing plus the economy doing a bit better, we will see a pretty good summer for our hospitality, accommodation and tourism operators.”

Fin Ocheduszko Brown is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.