Visitors vote with their feet, wallets

SURF'S UP: Corbin McKenzie shot this entry in the Northern Advocate "Win A Surfboard" competition, at Ocean Beach on Wednesday.

Our busiest summer in 5 years

Northland is riding a five-year summer holiday high, with tills ringing at record levels, campgrounds full and a tourism leader labelling the region as the new playground for Aucklanders.

Temperatures as high as 28C in the past month have helped, with accommodation providers reporting domestic and international tourists are rescheduling their trips to stay in Northland longer.

Northland tourism leader Jeroen Jongejans said while it was too early to know exact numbers of tourists into the region and their economic spend, anecdotally local businesses were booming.

"Northland tourism is doing really well at the moment. Everybody has been pumping."

Mr Jongejans is a board member with the Tourism Industry Association NZ and co-owner of Dive Tutukaka - which he said is the busiest it's been in five years.

"It's been primo conditions and everyone has been able to get on the water. Trips to the Poor Knights have been fully booked for weeks.

"People are hanging around and extending their holidays - it's all positive.

"We are becoming the playground of Aucklanders," he said.

And people are spending - according to the latest Paymark statistics, Auckland and Northland residents spent a whopping $2123.3 million in December 2014 - a 5.9 per cent increase on 2013.

The Treaty of Waitangi Grounds have also experienced a surge of visitors, according to marketing manager Nineke Metz.

"We have had a good summer, we're definitely up from last year... and we've been getting rave reviews on Trip Advisor.

"People are having a great time and the weather's playing ball."

Accommodation providers across the region are fully booked with both domestic and international tourists.

Department of Conservation campgrounds across Northland are full - except Uretiti which has a nine hectare site - according to DoC services manager Andrea Booth.

"Overall the campgrounds have been doing really well this year and I think the weather's got a lot to do with it," Ms Booth said.

Uretiti campground manager Glenys Foster said it was the best year the campground has had in the five years she's been there, with 500-odd campers and at least 30 people a day extending their stay - many of them from Auckland.

"The weather has been so fantastic people are staying longer."

Whangarei's TOP10 holiday park is at capacity, with owner Kevin Lloyd saying it's the fullest it's been in five years - by far.

"Last year was a record year, but this year's outstripped that. I'm still trying to get my head around where the numbers are coming from."

The owner of the Chelsea House Bed & Breakfast in Whangarei, Diane Houghton, said the B&B was also enjoying a much higher volume of visitors this summer than in previous years.

Waipu Cove campground co-manager Lucy Trist said it has been booming at the cove.

"It's always busy here, every summer, but it has been busier this year, and busier earlier - people came on Christmas Eve rather than on Boxing Day."