Violence rattles tourist idyll

Tourism operators say it's a distressing reality that the troublemaker element is drawn to known tourist hotspots. Photo / Supplied

Its popular image has been of an idyllic seaside town where visitors flock in to view whales, swim with dolphins and dine on freshly caught crayfish.

But recently Kaikoura has developed more of a reputation for violence, and in particular vicious attacks on visitors.

The fear now is that this growing reputation could discourage people from stopping in and impact on the small town's lifeblood.

Reported incidents since November include two mob street bashings of visitors, a New Year's Day rape, an attempted abduction of a child and the killing of 23 protected fur seals which are a popular tourist drawcard. On Thursday there was a clash over drugs involving knives and baseball bats.

The Kaikoura police force of five say it has been a struggle to keep up with the workload.

"It would be nice to have another [officer] but in today's environment, that is not going to happen," said station boss Sergeant Barry Hansen.

Dennis Buurman, general manager of the town's Dolphin Encounter, said he had not yet seen the violence impact on tourist numbers.

But asked if people might start rethinking plans to stay, he said: "There will be some who feel that."

"It's very concerning to have this type of behaviour in a tranquil place like Kaikoura. I think most people in Kaikoura find it very, very upsetting," Mr Buurman said.

"Unfortunately when you draw attention to a place, when it becomes more or less an iconic destination, it draws that element of people that will stoop to those levels. We would love to be immune from it, but you are almost powerless to stop it."

Kaikoura district mayor Winston Gray was keen to downplay the violence as a product of the festive summer season and alcohol, saying every city and town in New Zealand had its share of crime.

"There's been a minority, you might say, in the community that have caused this harm. The majority of the time it's fine."

But he conceded that he too was concerned about the image being portrayed of Kaikoura.

"It just seems to be a focus perhaps on the smaller tourist towns. I don't want to debate it in the national media. We have got a meeting coming up and we intend to take measures as a community to help the police in a community watch capacity."

Mr Hansen said police had made arrests or were following strong leads in most of the incidents. He said the incidents were not related, and a series of events in a row was making it seem worse than it was.

Kaikoura
* Located on the east coast of the South Island, between Christchurch and Blenheim.
* 3621 people usually live in the Kaikoura district (according to the 2006 Census).
* About 900,000 people visit Kaikoura every year. Last year there were 206,658 arrivals of guest who stayed at least one night. The average length of stay is about one and a half days.