Tauranga will be “grooving” with 40,000 visitors a day, including 20,000 jazz lovers and 200-plus musicians, expected to fill the city’s streets and hotels this Easter Weekend.
Accommodation providers are looking “full for Easter”, hospitality businesses are ready for the thousands of patrons, and event organisers are putting the final touches on their Easter displays, and chocolate egg hunts.
But a wet weather outlook may dampen some of the Easter festivities, with the best of the sunshine expected to be over before the long weekend begins.
Tauranga City Council venues and events manager Nelita Byrne said she was delighted the city would be “grooving”, with the National Jazz Festival celebrating its 60th anniversary this holiday weekend.
“With the expected influx of up to 20,000 jazz lovers in the city, our roads will be busy so remember to plan ahead and allow extra travel, and show the manaakitanga [hospitality, kindness] to our visitors we are becoming renowned for.”
Tourism Bay of Plenty general manager Oscar Nathan said last year the Western Bay of Plenty and Tauranga hosted about 40,000 visitors a day during the four-day Easter weekend.
“Demand for accommodation suggests the same will be true this year, with many visitors due to start arriving from Thursday and with most departing on Monday.”
Nathan said hotels and motels in Mount Maunganui and Tauranga looked likely to be full or nearly full on Good Friday and Saturday night.
“There’s also strong demand for peer-to-peer accommodation [like bach bookings] with demand in the 75 per cent to 80 per cent range across Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and we expect this will increase with last-minute bookings.”
Easter and the Term 1 school holidays were usually the “last big hurrah”, signalling the end of New Zealand’s peak visitor season, he said.
“We’ve been having a great autumn and it’s been wonderful hosting some significant events like last week’s Flavours of Plenty Festival and this week’s 60th National Jazz Festival. This Saturday we’ll also be farewelling the final cruise ship of the 2022/2023 season, the Majestic Princess.
“We know that accommodation providers, activity operators, hospitality venues and retailers will all be keen to make the most of this last big wave of international and domestic visitors.
“We will then start focusing on our shoulder season and winter season tourism offerings. Our beaches draw in lots of people during our warmer months, but we know there are so many more great reasons to spend time here.”
‘Full for Easter’
Hospitality New Zealand accommodation sector Bay of Plenty chairman and 850 Cameron Motel owner Tony Bullot said accommodation around the city was booking up, with mostly domestic travellers and a “smattering” of international visitors.
A few had arrived in town specifically for the National Jazz Festival’s 60th celebrations, he said.
“It looks like it is going to be full for Easter.”
Looking ahead, there were plenty of events in Tauranga keeping accommodation full.
“It has been pretty busy with events trying to play catch-up,” Bullot said.
The owner of Crown and Badger and Nectar, Jessica Rafferty, said they were open and ready to host the city’s Easter Weekend residents and visitors.
Crown and Badger owner Jessica Rafferty. Photo / George Novak
The bars had stretched out their borders and would be spilling onto The Strand to allow for more space and patrons to enjoy the festivities, she said.
“It will be good to get people down here and see big events bring thousands of people to Tauranga’s streets.”
Jazz festival bringing the vibe
Tauranga’s National Jazz Festival manager Marc Anderson said the festival so far had been going “fantastically”.
“The performances so far have been brilliant. The vibe has been good.”
Anderson said more than 200 musicians from across the country and Australia, expected in town this weekend for the jazz festival, had started to arrive.
“These guys are the top of their game. Having that many people in town, whether it is music, performing arts, sport, is an opportunity for people in Tauranga and the wider Bay of Plenty to see all of the talented people in one spot. It gives the opportunity for everybody, everywhere to see some classy musicians and have a lot of fun.
“We are anticipating a great few days. It’s all on.”
Swarms of people attend the Downtown Carnival on The Strand in Tauranga in April 2017. Photo / NZME
An Easter journey
Bethlehem Baptist Church is putting on its Easter Journey walk through tour at its church for the first time in eight years. Dorrie Jones, Volunteer Assistant, in the Abraham and Sarah Tent. Photo / Alex Cairns
Bethlehem Baptist Church volunteer Dorrie Jones said its Easter Journey walk-through display was returning this weekend after an eight-year hiatus.
Jones said the Easter Journey was a walk-through display of the Easter story as what Christians believe it to be.
The display covered about 800sq m and included artwork, interactive scenes, and “actors” playing Jesus, she said.
“Our Jesus actors have been practising to stand on the cross and getting their muscles ready for that by staying there for an hour at a time.”
More than 150 volunteers had been working on the display for the last nine weeks, preparing props and setting up different Easter scenes, she said.
The reason it had taken eight years to be done again was half because of Covid-19 disruptions and half because the church was undergoing extensive renovations.
“There are a few people in our church who are new within the last eight years and have never seen the display so it is fresh to them as well.”
Jones said they were expecting between 6000 and 7000 people to walk through the Easter display.
“We are hoping people come and reconnect or connect with what we think is the true Easter story is for us. It is a great experience to go through and reflect on our lives.”
The Easter Journey will run from 3pm to 9pm on Thursday and from 9am to 6pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Katikati Bird Gardens owner Scott Robertson said this weekend would be its 19th annual Great Easter Egg Hunt.
Robertson said about 300 coloured balls would once again be hidden around the four-hectare gardens for children to find, and swap for a chocolate Easter bunny egg at the cafe.
There was also a secret number of pink-painted rabbits in the gardens which the children can find and count, with the closest correct guess winning a giant chocolate egg, he said. Binky the Easter Egg Bunny will also be on hand to help families search for the chocolate.
“It is a tradition.”
Robertson said the chocolate egg hunt was also an opportunity for families to explore the Katikati Bird Gardens and enjoy the cafe, where he expected to be cooking up a lot of hot chips and meals for attendees.
Easter weather
Metservice meteorologist Dan Corrigan said there was a high-pressure system over the North Island “keeping skies nice and sunny and winds nice and light”.
But that was looking to change come Easter Friday and into the weekend, as a low-pressure system arrived from the North, he said. However, how much rain was expected was uncertain.
“Some parts of the region could get heavy rain on Saturday,” Corrigan said.
There was low confidence of heavy rain predicted for Tauranga on Saturday and in Rotorua on Sunday, he said.
“For the latter half of Friday to Saturday, it is going to be wet and windy. The best days are going to be before the long weekend, unfortunately.”
Traffic hotspots
Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency is warning to expect heavy traffic in some areas and to drive carefully.
Bay of Plenty hotspots will include State Highway 2 between Paeroa and Waihī eastbound this afternoon and Friday from 11.30am until 4pm as well as westbound Sunday afternoon and Monday morning.
SH2 between Tauranga and Katikati has busy patches Thursday, Saturday and Monday mornings, while southbound on Thursday afternoon is likely to be busy.
SH29 eastbound over the Kaimai range west of Tauranga may be heavy Friday from late morning until 3.30pm.
Monday may be busy from mid-morning until mid-afternoon westbound.
Traffic delays are also expected for people heading to Coromandel with SH 25A Kopu-Hikuai still closed and affecting travel to Pāuanui, Tairua or Whitianga.
Waka Kotahi is urging everyone to drive carefully these holidays.
This free exhibition in the Baycourt X Space weaves together milestones and memorable moments from the first four decades of Tauranga’s own premier performing arts facility.
