Wairarapa 'needs' a 100-room hotel

In a report prepared for Masterton District Council, Destination Wairarapa head David Hancock says the region needs a 100-room hotel, especially in the south of the region. FILE PHOTO

Wairarapa needs a new 100-room hotel to be able to cater for its burgeoning tourism industry, according to Destination Wairarapa general manager David Hancock.

In a report prepared for Masterton District Council, Mr Hancock said there is growing evidence of the need for the hotel, especially in South Wairarapa.

"Our largest accommodation providers are full when they can be full and we need another large property to add to the peak-time inventory," Mr Hancock said.

Giving further details outside of his prepared report, Mr Hancock said Wairarapa already has fantastic conference facilities but demand along with being able to cater for large groups, such as weddings, has grown to a point where the district needs another 80-100 room accommodation facility.

He said Wairarapa's tourism industry has been growing across all the towns and while there was "healthy rivalry" between towns each knew they would never be able to cater for the quantity of visitors without collaborating.

Building a basic hotel would meet the extra demand for beds and capitalise on the overflow and increased demand opportunities that conferencing and catering to large groups brought and the new hotel would have an opportunity to generating its own market.

Mr Hancock said as an example a conference now going to Martinborough with 100 delegates can easily fit into one, two or three venues but the guest rooms need to be spread out between several accommodation facilities. "This has worked when there is only one conference happening at a time and when there are no other significant events, weddings or independent travellers needing accommodation."

But with the growing popularity of Martinborough overlapping conferences, weddings, other events and independent travellers, the demand for accommodation is causing lost business. Mr Hancock said another hotel would alleviate that problem by meeting the demands for beds. In turn, that would benefit the whole town by securing the conference and the guest rooms.

The Carterton Events Centre is a purpose-built conference facility that is still settling in with systems and market positioning. "Once the marketing and sales start rolling for this venue there will be increased demand on the region's accommodation supply as conferences materialise," Mr Hancock said.

As far as tourism development is concerned, Mr Hancock said Australian visitors are showing no sign of slowing, visitors from the United States are starting to return and China is "an enormous market that Wairarapa has not previously experienced," but that is now starting to grow.

"Wairarapa has product that this market is interested in with white kiwi, alpaca, sheep and gardens. This is a market that we are seeing grow slowly but there are macro environmental influences that could suddenly speed this growth," he said.

He said Wellington is gearing up for direct inbound flights with an extended runway. This would make the city a more attractive gateway destination, putting pressure on Wellington and Wairarapa for accommodation.

Wellington Airport, he said, recognises the important role Wairarapa plays. "Wellington is just another city without Wairarapa but with Wairarapa, it is the most compact city, village, wine, coast, rural and outdoor proposition in New Zealand. A complete package."

Mr Hancock said the Carterton Events Centre has the capacity for 400 delegates and is the highest quality, purpose-built conference and event facility in the district.

"The quality of the facility would not be out of place peered with venues in Wellington."

He said the events centre uses Copthorne Solway Park for accommodation and the success of that depended on whether there was a conference at the Copthorne.

A new 80-100 guest room property in Martinborough would increase the ability of the Copthorne and the Carterton Events Centre to bring in other conferences to the district.

A new medium-sized hotel in Martinborough would also make it easier for a group travel to book with confidence.