Comment: Coming third not a failure

I was interested to read Mayor Kevin Winters' response to the Lonely Planet Guide comment that Rotorua may be resting on its laurels when it came to tourism.

He for one should know how slowly the wheels of bureaucracy turn.

Consider Eat Streat - a marvellously simple concept that has proven to work very well.

It has taken almost four years for the district council to decide to make this a permanent fixture. I first reported on the Eat Streat concept in December 2008 and nothing has changed. It's still just a bunch of planter boxes and outdoor furniture plonked in the middle of a road.

Mayor Winters said it appeared the publishers were unaware of the innovative work by the council's tourism marketing unit and local tourism operators in recent times.

That's because nothing much has happened in terms of council-driven tourism initiatives.

The only new ventures are wholly private - Railcruisers and Rotorua Canopy Tours near Mamaku and Ngai Tahu's investment in Rainbow Springs' new Big Splash.

The upgrade of Rotorua's museum is old news, built mostly with Government and local trust investment.

Conversely, Lonely Planet ranked Rotorua the third best tourist destination in New Zealand, behind Auckland Harbour/the Hauraki Gulf and urban Auckland in second. This is excellent news coming from a very well respected tourist guide book.

The issue here is that right now, the perception is Rotorua is struggling. People are not staying in the city.

This is not to say Rotorua's tourism industry is struggling across the board. Our accommodation providers are feeling the pinch, highlighted by the latest statistics for July. Overall, Rotorua had a decrease of 13,400 visitor nights, or 9.9 per cent, in the accommodation sector for the month - compared to a 6.7 per cent decrease nationally.

But, visits to local tourist attractions were up in July with an increase of 17,700 visits, or 11.5 per cent, compared with the same month last year, clearly showing people are still coming to town, but not for extended periods.

I don't think the Lonely Planet's criticism is outdated, just look around town or take a stroll up Tutanekai St and count the number of closed shops. Look at the statistics, they don't make for pleasant reading.

"Lagging behind" is a good description of where Rotorua sits right now.

Yes, plans are under way to rejuvenate the city - they have been talked about for some time.

Yes, there are strategies in place to get things moving again - I applaud the council for putting these in place.

Forgive me for being cynical, but there's been a lot of talk and very little action.