The tourism industry in Rotorua is the largest employer and the highest contributor to Rotorua’s GDP.
The main economic contributors to the tourism industry are accommodation providers, cafés, restaurants and bars, visitor experiences, and retailers.
Rotorua is one of New Zealand’s most-visited cities, so it is crucial for us to increase the commercial value the visitor market brings to the city. We continue to investigate the barriers and opportunities for tourism growth in Rotorua, and have set a goal to achieve a $1 billion visitor spend by 2030. While Covid has posed challenges for many businesses right across New Zealand, Rotorua has seen a rapid recovery and investment in the destination continues.
Rotorua’s Destination Management Plan was adopted in November 2021 and implementation of the 10 year strategy commenced. The plan takes a holistic view of Rotorua with a tourism lens and aims to improve Rotorua for both our local community and visitors.
The key strategies identified in this plan led by RotoruaNZ span across marketing, product development, investment attraction, sustainability, trail development, inner city revitalisation, spa & wellness and quality accommodation.
In 2023 as a public private partnership, Rotorua has welcomed a new 5 star luxury spa and wellness attraction Wai Ariki and QE Health which focusses on rehabilitation utilising the waters for recuperation.
Attractions such as Agrodome, Skyline Rotorua, Te Puia, & Te Pa Tū have heavily invested and redeveloped their visitor experiences to ensure the long terms sustainability of their businesses.
If you want to get in touch and talk to our team about investing in the visitor economy, buying an existing tourism venture or are even considering starting something new.
We have an extensive data and research available to support making commercial decisions in the visitor economy which can be accessed here