Victoria Han, who came to New Zealand as an international student, says Tauranga is like paradise to her. PHOTO/GEORGE NOVAK
Victoria Han, who came to New Zealand as an international student, says Tauranga is like paradise to her. PHOTO/GEORGE NOVAK
Tauranga's long-held image as a retirement haven for mainly Pakeha New Zealanders no longer holds true.
Figures just released by Statistics New Zealand show the city's population has grown 2.3 per cent in the past year while the Western Bay's population rose 2 per cent, making the region one of the fastest-growing areas in the country.
Migrants account for a significant portion of the growth, with 4693 settling in the Bay in the year ending July, up 18.1 per cent on the previous year.
Overseas-born residents now comprise 17.3 per cent of the population, with the largest number by far coming from the UK and Ireland (39.8 per cent) and Asia (21.8 per cent).
The Bay's 135 different ethnic community's make it the third most diverse region in the country.
The changing face of Tauranga and its hinterland is being driven in large measure by an influx of people with Asian ethnicity choosing to settle there.
Census figures indicate their numbers have almost doubled from 4428 in 2006 to 8235 in 2013, out of the region's total population of 158,481.
In a report released this week, the Asia New Zealand Foundation revealed that the Indian population in Tauranga had tripled between 2001 and 2013 while the number of Chinese had almost doubled over the same period.
However, the greatest proportionate growth was found in the Korean population, which increased fivefold.
Tauranga Regional Multicultural Society president Ewa Fenn says the city appears to be welcoming and tolerant of migrants "on the surface" but there can be underlying hostility when change has been rapid and when large groups of new migrants become visible.
She adds that "tolerance builds up quickly when people get used to and get to know more about new migrants".
For his part, Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby says the changing demographics are highly visible in the growing number of Asians taking part in citizenship ceremonies at which he officiates.
"What it does is it brings in a fantastic mix when you bring new cultures into Tauranga."
The increasing volume of migrants moving to the Bay has prompted a series of workshops to help them find jobs.
The 30-hour course, which is run by Multicultural Tauranga, provides information on the New Zealand business environment, creating a CV, job identification strategies and interviewing skills.
Multicultural Tauranga secretary Margarete Kraemer says the workshops are primarily designed to help migrants apply for jobs.
"They have to adapt, they don't know how it is different [from what they are used to] and that is what we want to teach them."
The workshops are a first for the multicultural council and are being run by the former co-ordinator of Tauranga Settlement Support Services, Carol Andersen.
Settlement Support Services, which was run by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, closed down last year.
Through people like Andersen, it helped migrants to settle and stay in the Bay, a face-to-face service which has now been taken over by the Citizens Advice Bureau.
Interestingly, Andersen says the majority of migrants attending the multicultural council's workshops are not Asians who, she adds, tend to seek help from extended family and friends.
Migrants and jobs
Elena Spektor of Ukraine. Photo/George Novak
Recent migrant Elena Spektor from the Ukraine says it's difficult to find a job as a migrant and the workshops will give her and others like her useful skills.
"I would love to know how to build my CV, how to write a cover letter because there are many differences compared with back home."
In its report the Asia New Zealand Foundation notes that about 70per cent of the Asian population of Tauranga are in the labour force and about 6per cent are unemployed.
The picture is much the same in the Western Bay of Plenty where 75per cent are in the workforce and 5per cent unemployed.
The occupational groupings of Chinese and Indian migrants make for interesting reading, showing a marked difference in the skill-set between the two.
For Chinese, the largest proportion in Tauranga (24per cent) are technicians and trade workers, with 20per cent professionals and 16per cent managers.
In contrast, the largest proportion of Indians (31per cent) were labourers, followed by managers (22per cent) and professionals (13per cent).
"This suggests that among Chinese there are probably a higher proportion on various kinds of medium-term work visas."
The report says there is a great deal of diversity among the Indian population, with two-thirds born in India and the remainder born in New Zealand and Fiji.
Their religious affiliations show that Sikhs are by far the largest group, which is not unexpected given that the first Sikhs arrived in New Zealand in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Many of these and subsequent Sikh migrants worked in dairy farming and other farming activities in Waikato, later extending their spread to the nearby Bay of Plenty.
One of the outward manifestations of Indian culture in the Bay is the growing number of places of worship.
Tauranga and Te Puke each boast a Sikh temple with Tauranga also having a Hindu one.
Until recently, Chinese have had a much smaller presence in the Bay than Indians, but all that is changing fast.
More of them are now choosing the region as a place to live, play, do business and raise a family.
Census data shows the Chinese population has grown from half a per cent during the 2001 census to nearly 1per cent during the 2013 census.
Charlie Song recently told the Bay of Plenty Times that work-life balance was a major reason why Chinese migrate to New Zealand and live in cities like Tauranga.
He says his friends in China work more than 50 hours a week with no holidays or weekends off.
"If they're lucky, they take a day-and-a-half off a month. It's an invaluable lifestyle in New Zealand and the quality of the work-life balance I don't think you can achieve overseas.
"If you do business in Tauranga or New Zealand, most occasions you meet in the boardroom or for coffee.
"Kiwi people are fantastic and easy to deal with."
Association president Candy Yan moved to Tauranga from China in 2002 attracted by the Bay's small-town feel and lack of skyscrapers.
Today she is a personal banker at ANZ in Tauranga doing her best to foster closer economic relations with China as well as helping members of the Chinese community start and grow businesses in the region.
"I've got customers from China investigating where to come to invest money in a business and they're choosing Tauranga now instead of Auckland," she says.
Yet another Chinese migrant is Victoria Han who came to this country as an international student and never left.
After studying at Auckland University she and her husband Tony relocated to Tauranga, which she describes as like moving to paradise.
"We went for a walk along the beach at Papamoa and it reminded me of the Gold Coast, but minus the tourists and businesses.
"It was lovely and peaceful."
Today, Han is very active in the Bay's growing Chinese community and owns owns optometrist stores in Tauranga and works for Ray White commercial as a licensee and PA for a senior agent.
Victoria Han.
Education
On the educational front, the links between Tauranga and China are set to become even closer, thanks to a sister school initiative that was launched by the Government last year during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to New Zealand.
As a result, 25 schools around the country, including five in the Bay have received between $1500 and $2500 each, allowing them to develop sister-school relationships with schools in China. Local schools involved are Tauranga Intermediate, Tahatai Coast, Pillans Point, Greenpark and Oropi.
Anne Young, regional manager of Education Tauranga, told the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend that it signed an agreement last month with officials in Suzhou which would pave the way for student and staff exchanges between schools in both regions.
"This funding, although small, will allow our schools to progress the relationships they have formed with the schools in Suzhou with the view to hosting short term study groups from their sister school in 2016.
"It will allow for them to diversify the international student communities within their schools and ensure that their New Zealand students are exposed to other cultures, and therefore meeting their strategies of creating 'global citizens' within their schools."
Young says 1200 international students are studying in Education Tauranga's 38 member schools, generating more than $31million for the local economy.
"Looking at the market split from our latest visas stats, India represents the largest market [34per cent], followed by Korea (17per cent], Philippines (7per cent], and Germany (6per cent].
"The remaining 36per cent is made up of many different nationalities including China, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia as well as Latin American countries Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina."
Anne Young.
Young says the stats only represent international students who are in the region for more than three months and are studying on a student visa.
The data does not capture international students who study in the Bay on short-term study tours, usually two to three weeks.
"We welcome a huge amount of these groups, particularly from Japan, China and Taiwan," she says.
"All of our intermediates and high schools accept groups from these countries, mainly in July/August each year, and increasingly the primary schools are also starting to host these short-term study tours.
"We also have some large groups from China arriving in February next year to enrol at primary schools in the region for a two week period."
Young says three language schools - Bay of Plenty English Language School, Mount Maunganui Language School and Bay Learning Academy - are also members of Education Tauranga.
All of which is proof positive that the cultural and ethnic makeup of Tauranga and the Western Bay has changed dramatically in the last decade or so.
And that's got to be good news for those who want to see the region become a more exciting and vibrant place in which to live, work and play.
