Mount Maunganui visitor centre canned, council to refund Provincial Growth Fund money

Cruise ship passengers were expected to be catered for especially with the creation of a Mount Visitor Centre on Salisbury Ave. Photo / File

Plans for a new $5 million visitor information centre in Mount Maunganui are no more as Tauranga City Council chooses not to proceed.

The council made the decision to abort the Mount Visitor Information Centre project at today's Projects, Services and Operations Committee meeting.

The decision comes after the Government nixed a nearly $1 million Provincial Growth Fund grant for the project and ordered the council to pay back the nearly $100,000 portion it had received to date.

Tourism Bay of Plenty chief executive Kristin Dunne, pictured in a previous council meeting, says she's disappointed a Mount visitor centre is no longer going ahead. Photo / File

In a statement, the council said the project has been planned since 2015, in partnership with Tourism Bay of Plenty, and has been through several iterations.

General manager of community services Gareth Wallis said that while there was no doubt that the Mount Visitor Information Centre was seen as a really important part of the visitor offering in Tauranga, "the changing face of international tourism and growing demands on council's limited funds meant it was prudent to review this spending and that has led to today's decision to cancel the project".

The $450,000 in funding allocated in this financial year for the design work had not been spent and would not be spent given today's decision.

Since the project was initiated in 2015, the council spent $55,123 on the project.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment terminated the Provincial Growth Fund contribution to the project of $980,000 due to failure to meet certain milestones.

The council will refund the $98,000 portion of the fund released to date.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the landscape of the international tourism market and, in the short-term, this gives council the opportunity to reset and relook at how we provide infrastructure to support that important industry," Wallis said.

"This will be done holistically and taking into account other demands on council funds as part of the current long-term planning process, which will lay out the plan for investing in our city over the coming decade."

Tourism Bay of Plenty chief executive Kristin Dunne said in the council statement today: "I'm disappointed that this crucial tourism infrastructure won't be delivered for the region's already hard-hit tourism industry".

"The central government support through the Provincial Growth Fund confirmed that Te Tomokanga would deliver an unmet need in Tauranga Moana and Te Moananui ā Toi (the Coastal Bay of Plenty). I look forward to working with Tauranga City Council to find a timely solution."

For this summer, an i-SITE will be temporarily relocated to Te Papa o Ngā Manu Porotakataka to provide information support for domestic visitors to the Mount.

The Provincial Growth Fund money was granted in August last year and expected to top up the $4.026m the council earmarked in mid-2017 to build on council-owned land at 10 Salisbury Ave in Mount Maunganui.

The centre was expected to help drive a 35 per cent increase in cruise ship visits and support a goal of creating 4000 new jobs in tourism.