KEY POINTS:
Work has started on a new five-star $26.5 million rainforest hotel near Franz Josef on the West Coast of the South Island.
The lodge-style hotel is part of the Scenic Circle chain and will be surrounded by native rainforest and built with sustainable and locally sourced materials.
Scenic Circle Hotels' managing director Brendan Taylor said the vision was for guests to feel encircled by the natural rainforest.
The hotel is also expected to help with a severe shortage of accommodation for tourists over the peak summer season.
Tourism West Coast general manager Sonya Matthews said more than 1.4 million visitors came to the area each year and most of those came in during the summer peak months of December to February. "That creates huge pressure on our accommodation providers."
Matthews said the new hotel would go some way towards relieving the pressure but the bigger issue was how to get more tourists to come over the shoulder seasons.
"We just try to push the message that you don't have to come only in that December to February period. It's equally as nice to come from October through to April." The hotel is expected to be completed by January next year and will feature 100 rooms with the potential for a further 60 to be added.
Ngai Tahu is also developing a heated pool complex next to the site.
Taylor said the two businesses hoped to team up to work towards promoting the pool complex and other attractions in the area with packaged trips.
