Tourism spend continues to rise in Hawke's Bay

Spectators applaud the edible art fashion show during June's F.A.W.C! event. Photo / File

Hawke's Bay's Indian Summer and an extended Winter F.A.W.C! (Food and Wine Classic) event are being pointed to as reasons behind a big jump in the value of tourism last month.

The latest Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) show tourism spending for Hawke's Bay is estimated to be $639 million for the year to June 2018, up 5 per cent compared with the year to June 2017.

MBIE manager of sector trends Mark Gordon said international visitors spent $169m (up 10 per cent compared with the year to June 2017), and domestic tourists spent $470m (up 3 per cent).

"When it comes to the monthly expenditure, tourism spend in Hawke's Bay for the month of June 2018 is up 5 per cent compared with the month of June 2017," says Mr Gordon.

Hawke's Bay Tourism general manager Annie Dundas said she was particularly thrilled to see a rise in tourism spending for the month.

"We are actually really thrilled that the result is up overall for June because we thought June [and July coming] would have been affected a bit without a Lions tour this year. So having a positive result is extra good."

Dundas said an extended F.A.W.C! event, which included an edible fashion show and also coincided with Queen's Birthday weekend, played a significant part.

"We had a much bigger programme and all our F.A.W.C! figures were up. We did 4500 tickets this year, which was up on last year for the events that were ticketed."

Ticket sales through Hawke's Bay Tourism alone hit about $300,000, which was also up on last year, she said.

MBIE figures also show that last month tourism spend rose $16m in Napier, from May, and another $8m in Hastings. Visitors also shelled out another $4m in Central Hawke's Bay and $2m in Wairoa.

The retail sector was the area where visitors spent most, outlaying $14m over the course of the month - a cool $1m up on the same month last year.

Visitor retail spending also appears to have been one factor behind a rise in retails spending in Napier for the second quarter of the year.

"Total spending for the last quarter [April-June] was up on the same period last year, with $101m spent within the CBD," Napier City Business Incorporated acting manager Steph Kennard said.

"Across Napier, this figure totals $206m."