Taupō included in Project Palace hotel study

Project Palace, a government initiative to attract foreign investment into New Zealand’s hotel sector, is now to include Taupō in this year’s market analysis. The move was announced yesterday by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise investment director, Paul Burnaby. Taupō joins the other capacity-constrained centres of Auckland, Rotorua, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown in the project.

Damian Coutts, general manager of Destination Great Lake Taupō, says the inclusion of Taupō in the study reinforces recent data that shows unprecedented growth in the hotel sector for the district.

The latest CAM (Commercial Accommmodation Monitor) report for the year ending May 2017 shows guest arrivals in hotels in the Taupō district are up 30% on the previous year. Total international visitor numbers to the district in the past year are also up 18.5%.

Mr Coutts said it would be greatly beneficial to the district’s tourism industry if the Project Palace market analysis, coupled with the latest tourism data showing continuous growth, resulted in new large-scale accommodation and activity investment for Taupō. He said they had worked together with Enterprise Great Lake Taupo to have the district included in the project and were very pleased with the result.

“We are excited to be included in this project as the prospect of significant new investments in our district will ensure future visitor growth is not constrained by capacity issues in terms of large-scale group and conference facilities.”

Large scale developments such as those planned by Ruapehu Alpine Lifts over the next 12 months are also expected to significantly drive growth in the winter months. It is anticipated that plans for a new aerial tramway and base complex at Whakapapa Ski Area, along with dedicated transport services from Taupo and Turangi, will see increased visitor numbers to the Taupō district, stimulating the requirement for greater accommodation capacity.

Project Palace is currently assisting with negotiations for new developments in other regions and Destination Great Lake Taupō hopes that being included in the project will have the same result for the Taupō district.

ENDS.

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