Waiheke centre to close in winter

Faye Storer

Tourism Auckland will close its money-losing Oneroa information site on Waiheke Island for four months this winter, a move some business-owners say could mean fewer visitors in already lean times.

But Tourism Auckland chief executive Graeme Osborne said the impact on Waiheke would be "virtually zero".

The Oneroa site, which would close from June 1 to October 1, lost about $100,000 a year, Mr Osborne said. Most of that loss occurred over winter, when the Auckland region's tourism dropped between 75 and 80 per cent, he said.

Email and telephone inquiries would be rerouted and another information site would remain open at nearby Matiatia Wharf.

George Craddock, owner of the Onetangi Rd Vineyard, agrees that business drops heavily in the winter. His winery is one of the few on the island to remain open, and he relies heavily on visits from overseas tourists. "It's just going to be even harder to survive," he said. "If they don't know about us, there will be even less."

Waiheke Island councillor Faye Storer understood the need for a temporary closure, but the Matiatia site had "limited capability".

"People get off the boat and they have to get on the bus. I personally don't think it's acceptable to have everybody hop off the boat, queue up for information, then find out that the local bus has gone," she said.

Tourism Auckland did not release an estimate of the number of visitors to the Waiheke information sites.

The organisation also has two centres at Auckland Airport, two in the central business district, and one on Great Barrier Island, serving an estimated one million visitors each year.