Information centre for Mount urged

Tourism BOP head of marketing and communication Kristin Dunne

Mount Maunganui needs its own visitor information centre as it is the "shop window for tourism in the Bay", says Mount Mainstreet manager Peter Melgren.

At a joint Western Bay and Tauranga meeting this month, Tauranga City Council strategic planner Ross Hudson said there had been discussions for some time about whether the location of the Tauranga i-Site was appropriate.

Mr Hudson said the council needed to look at whether it should be moved to the Mount and how much could be moved online.

A request to speak to Mr Hudson about the potential moving of the i-Site was referred to the council's communications team, which responded with a written statement: "The potential move of the Tauranga Visitor Information Centre was brought up at the council meeting ... as a heads-up for elected members. The project, which will be led by Tourism Bay of Plenty, is in its very early days."

The statement said assessment of the suitability of a potential move would be conducted this year by Tourism BOP.

Tourism BOP head of marketing and communication Kristin Dunne said the review had not begun, so she did not have any answers to questions yet.

Mr Melgren said there was a "lot of ill feeling" in Mount Maunganui about the closure of the suburb's former i-Site in Salisbury Ave.

"We've been running an information centre out of the other half of my office with volunteers because there's nothing here."

Mr Melgren said Mount Maunganui was a nationally and internationally recognised destination. "For me, it makes sense to have an i-Site here."

Combining the i-Port with a local visitor information centre near the port could combine the two services for lower cost, he said.