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Far North Mayor Wayne Brown has blasted weather forecasts that he says caused thousands of holiday-makers to cancel Labour weekend breaks in the Bay of Islands - and he wants an apology.
Mr Brown said predictions last week of a "Noah-like storm" by television news kept tourists at home and hurt the region's economy.
He said between 10,000 and 15,000 people either cancelled accommodation or decided against making the journey north, based on reports of bad weather that never came to fruition.
"Nothing happened at all," he said. "Saturday was fine enough for me to go surfing, Sunday was good and Monday was perfect."
The mayor said he had received complaints from several holiday camps and motels who were reduced to 25 per cent capacity over Labour weekend after being fully booked.
"We had hotels, motels, pubs, restaurants and tourism ventures missing out on long-weekend trade that they desperately needed.
"These are lean times and people cannot afford to lose business because someone in a city somewhere gets a weather forecast wrong."
He said the MetService was ultimately responsible for the negative weather predictions, because its information was the basis of television reports.
"One way or another, there was a unified conspiracy between between the TV and MetService, which conjured a picture of bad weather and meant thousands of people stayed at home," Mayor Brown said.
"People don't read the small print, they just think there is a big storm on the way."
Mr Brown demanded an apology from the MetService.
But MetService spokesman Peter Kreft didn't give one.
He said the only weather warnings issued in the lead-up to Labour weekend were at 8.33 on Thursday night and 8.26 on Friday morning, and both played down the significance of any wild weekend weather.
Warnings he supplied to the Herald predicted 50-70mm of rain for the area between the Bay of Islands and Whangarei on Friday, with potential squally showers on Saturday.
Mr Kreft said forecasters were very aware of the effect their warnings had on the tourism industry.
"We are very mindful of people making decisions based on our forecasts. Fishermen, businesses and tourists are on our minds every time a forecast is issued."
Fiona Foote, of Doubtless Bay Information Centre in Mangonui, confirmed a large number of people cancelled Labour weekend accommodation because of the weather reports.
"By Saturday, people were just plain not turning up," she said.
"We're only a small village; tourism is basically all we have to offer. If tourists don't come it's a big blow."
Ms Foote said Mangonui often suffered from inaccurate forecasts as a result of not being mentioned on nightly TV weather reports. She's been pressing TV3 for inclusion.
