A Towncentre Taupō promotion has $1500 worth of travel vouchers up for grabs. Photo / Getty Images
A Towncentre Taupō promotion has $1500 worth of travel vouchers up for grabs. Photo / Getty Images
Have you found yourself dreaming of a holiday as border restrictions ease? Well, a Taupō competition could make that holiday $1500 easier.
This month someone is going to win a travel prize worth $1500 in the Fly Away May promotion. Simply spend $20 at a participating Taupō retailer and go in the draw to win the trip of your choice, from one of the local travel agents.
Towncentre Taupō board member and Taupō Office Products Depot director Stephen Payne says the good thing about this promotion is you can enter every time you spend at least $20.
May is shoulder season for Taupō retailers, the international borders are slowly reopening and Stephen says it's a good time to show support to the local travel agents, who have been hardest hit through the financial fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.
He hopes the promotion will get locals back into town and create "a cool vibe".
There are about 50 retailers taking part and Stephen says people should remember that Towncentre Taupō includes businesses on the Waikato River side of Spa Rd and is not just limited to the main town area.
"You might be getting your car fixed, or your boat part, and once you've paid you can go in the draw."
So far Taupō retailers are reporting visitors are mainly family coming from Australia, with the feeling more tourists will come in the ski season.
Stephen says surviving the past two years has been about a business' ability to diversify.
"One way to fix the situation is to get people out onto the street. Even for locals, there is always something new to see when you go into town."
Stephen Payne from Town Centre Taupō works the till at Office Products Depot for the Fly Away May shopping promotion. Photo / Rachel Canning
He says over the past two years, Taupō retailers have benefited from the economic stimulus arising from projects such as building the $818 million Tauhara Geothermal Power Station and also the Taupō Towncentre Transformation $29 million project funded by the Government's Shovel Ready fund.
"These projects have brought people into the district, they get paid decent wages and they spend in Taupō shops.
"The related service industries are far-reaching, from dry cleaning services to the butchers. It's been perfect timing."
He says Taupō retailers reported tourists were embracing the freedoms allowed at Covid-19 traffic light setting orange, but it will take a bit of time before visitor behaviour returns to pre-pandemic levels.
"They've been told to stay at home for the past two years, but they were feeling it at Easter, they're getting their confidence back."
Last weekend's events were great for the town, he says.
"Guess where the workers at these events go when they are on their break? They all go downtown."
Stephen says the shoulder season is always hard for Taupō, and encourages residents to go into town to meet their friends, have a look at the shops, and spend $20 so they can enter the draw.
Fill in the card and drop it into an entry box at Flight Centre, House of Travel, or YOU Travel.
Digital entry:
Scan the QR code on your entry card, or enter online at www.towncentretaupo.co.nz with a photo of receipt.
Unlimited entries:
Each purchase of $20 or more entitles the customer to one entry. There is no limit to the number of times a customer can spend $20 and enter during May 2022.
