"No doubt, the good summer weather contributed to consumers in the area slip, slop, slapping, and spending this summer and in doing so secured Northland top regional honours."
Also benefiting from the long summer was the Bay of Plenty, which shot up nine spots to third place on the scoreboard.
"Accommodation was bursting at the seams and visitors to the Bay packed their wallets and spent locally," Tuffley said of the region.
This overall strong performance for Bay of Plenty was, however, pulled down by the employment measure, with the region struggling to fill vacancies in the kiwifruit sector during peak picking season.
"That said, the kiwifruit export season is set to shatter previous records in terms of returns, and on that basis, with regional incomes strong, the Bay may be set for a prolonged spell towards the top of the Scoreboard," Tuffley said.
While it was great for tourism, the long dry summer also had some negative repercussions for some regions.
Most notably, Manawatu-Whanganui and Taranaki were dragged to the bottom of the ASB Regional Economic Scorecard by drought in the central North Island.
"The Taranaki region was one of the worst-hit by drought over summer and with this in mind, it's not that surprising consumer confidence was the weakest in the country over the quarter," Tuffley said.
And things are likely to get worse for the region in the immediate future, with the fallout from Government's decision in April to cease issuing permits for offshore oil exploration set to start filtering into the region's indicators from next quarter.
