Northland earns $89m from tourists in one month alone

Tourists out and about in Paihia, one of the hotspots for local and international visitors to Northland. Photo/Peter de Graaf

Tourists spent $89 million in Northland this October, with much forked out in the Far North.

The monthly Regional Tourism Estimates released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) shows Kiwi visitors spent the most ($69m) followed by Australia ($6m), Germany and rest of Europe ($3m) each, UK and US ($2m) each, Canada, Oceania and Asia ($1m) each.

Tourists spent $19m in retail sales, $14m on fuel and other automotive products, $14m in alcohol, food and beverages, $12m in food and beverage serving services, $11m on transport, $9m on tourism products, $7m on accommodation, and $3m on cultural, recreation and gambling services.

Northland's estimated tourism earnings in the year to October was $1.132 billion of which Far North earned $521m, Whangarei $484m, Kaipara $128m.

Tourism earnings topped $1b for the first time in October last year.

Northland lags behind only Auckland, Christchurch, Queenstown and Wellington in tourism earnings.

A Korean spiritual leader's plans to spend $35m building an "Earth Village" in the Bay of Islands is expected to bring an extra 10,000 visitors to the region each year by 2025.

Seung Heun Lee, known as Ilchi Lee to his followers, is building a global youth training centre for his Earth Citizens Organisation (ECO) on the outskirts of Kerikeri.