Results of the March 2024 Rotorua Business pulse report were presented on Wednesday morning. Photo / Laura Smith
Results of the March 2024 Rotorua Business pulse report were presented on Wednesday morning. Photo / Laura Smith
“Improving”, “potential”, “stagnant”, and “beautiful” are how some describe Rotorua in one word. The city’s tourism organisation calls it “kick-ass”.
The sentiments were shared as part of the RotoruaNZ and Rotorua Business Chamber’s business pulse survey results, which RotoruaNZ chief executive Andrew Wilson presented on Wednesday morning.
There were 80 survey respondents and the tourism industry made up 34 per cent of these. Directors, owners and managers made up 91 per cent of respondents, and responses were collected from March 14 to April 12.
This was down from 108 in the October survey which Wilson attributed to several surveys running at once.
Wilson said 23.1 per cent wanted city vision, vibrancy, and investment.
Anonymised survey comments included, “setting a new vision for the city which builds off the investment in public infrastructure and gives confidence to the private sector/developers”, and “creating a vibrant city centre and getting rid of beggars and intimidating individuals”.
Some wanted Rotoua Lakes Council to develop a “positive” long-term plan, while others wanted investment in the city.
About 20.5 per cent wanted a focus on rebuilding reputation, with one wanting Rotorua to regain “the city’s image as a top tourism destination”.
RotoruaNZ chief executive Andrew Wilson speaks on the March 2024 business survey. Photo / Laura Smith
“[Address] the reputational damage caused by the issues around social housing.”
Wilson said work was in the pipeline to do just that, such as its to-be-launched Mai Rotorua initiative.
“How do we get our community and the rest of the country to understand how kick-ass Rotorua is?”
Wilson also made a plea to the business community who were not using AI.
“My suggestion is, if you aren’t, get started. Don’t get left behind.”
He called it an “incredible toolset” and productivity tool that would not replace jobs.
“Please, please, please, do take the time to investigate how it can add value to your business.”
The feeling in the business community
Wilson provided an overview of the findings, which included how the survey was off the back of a strong summer in the tourism sector.
North American visitors were choosing Rotorua as their holiday destination but “under the lid”, there was some work to do in bringing up numbers of other markets such as China.
Flight capacity had impacted numbers but Wilson said this was improving.
“We’ve called it, ‘doing the hard yards’, because we’ve done a lot of yards already.”
Included in his speech was how there had been a “significant rebalancing of the economy”. Demand had fallen, supply was being adjusted.
Westpac New Zealand industry economist Paul Clark. Photo / Laura Smith
It had been “tough times” through a double-dip recession, he said. Economic growth stalled over the past year, and GDP was expected to grow by 0.7 per cent over 2024.
“Hardly stellar. But still, it’s growth.”
High interest rates were constraining that growth, as were tight financial conditions and weak export market conditions.
Laura Smith is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. She previously reported general news for the Otago Daily Times and Southland Express, and has been a journalist for four years.
