Tourists Spend £5¼Million In Taupo Each Year

Taupo Times, Volume XIV, Issue 49, 24 June 1965, Page 1

Tourists Spend £5¼Million

In Taupo Each Year

Tourists bring over £5 1 million to Taupo district eacli year, according to a f act-findiiig survey just completed by Taupo Jaycee.

This sum comes from a total of 331,000 people who come here in ihe course of a year, staying between two days and a in a variety of accommodation ranging from motor camps to five-star hotels.

The survey shows that while private houses (holiday homes and cottages, family visitors, etc.) accommodate fewer people than either hotels, motels or motor camps, this group spends the greatest sum of monev. • A cool £1,750,000 to be exact. • Next biggest monev spenclers are those who stay in hotels and

thev contribute about £1,421,250 to the town's economy. • The other "millionaire" money-earners are the motor camps. They bring in £1,115,525. Numerically, however, the hotels handle the greatest liumher of visitors anniially. They attract some 113,700 people and the next nearest to this figure are the motor camps and motels with something over 80,000 people each. The length of stay is important and it is this which gives the private houses their lead because most people in this category stay for two weeks, whereas those in hotels only stay, on the average, two to three days. Motor camp patrons stay upwards of a week and those in motels three to five days. The average amount each classification spends varies

from £1/17/6 a day, for those in motor camps to £6/5/- a day for those in hotels. An astonishing 41 per cent. of the visitors come from north of Taupo, 37 per cent. from the south of the town, 13 per cent. from the South Island and 9 per cent. from overseas. The average daily population of the area duripg the peak week of the holiday season (December 26 to January 2) is 45,000 people — compared with the normal population of 18,000 for the whole of Taupo borough and county. Besides listing a series of undeveloped potential tourist resorts and attractions, the survey draws some conciusions on the adequacy, or otherwise, of various facilities.

It says the Taupo-Tu-rangi road is in a disgraceful and dangerous condition and, with an almost audible sigh of relief, that the TaupoVVairakei road is at last being reformed. A rail link is required, maintains the survey.