Dunedin businesses are reporting a strong start to the year thanks to sunny skies and an influx of cruise ship visitors, the head of the Otago of Chamber of Commerce says.
Chamber chief executive Dougal McGowan said members of the business community were ''really pleased'' with the Christmas and Boxing Day period, and booming trade had continued into the new year.
In particular, DIY businesses such as Mitre 10 Mega had reported a large number of customers over the holiday break, as people took advantage of the good weather.
The number of people heading outside to enjoy picnics or going to the beach meant things were a little bit quieter for some traditional tourist spots, but ''big box retail'' was still going strong.
''It's been a good year for business,'' he said.
One local shop selling New Zealand-made goods in particular had done very well out of cruise ship visitors, he said.
One cruise ship, the Sea Princess, arrived on New Year's Day.
Another arrived on New Year's Eve, and five arrived between Boxing Day and December 30.
Majestic Princess is due at 9am today.
According to Paymark, Otago recorded an 11.1% rise in the value of all Boxing Day transactions - but its increase in spend was still below the national average.
A total of $9.4 million was spent on Boxing Day, and there were 150,000 transactions in total.
Figures for the New Year are not expected to be available until next week, but Mr McGowan said he thought there would also be an increase for that period.
People were enjoying having more money to spend over the summer break, he said.
The Corner Store Cafe owner Mark Anson, who was open every day apart from Christmas and New Year's Day, said he thought business had been ''a bit busier'' than it had been in previous years, which he chalked up partly to ship passengers.
This was the third year he had owned the cafe.
''It's really got very busy,'' he said.
''Over this time of year there's a lot of tourists. It's a combination of tourists and locals.''
Sarah Hussey, owner of neighbouring business The Perc Cafe, opened on New Year's Day, and said it had been ''crazy''.
She thought it was the cafe's biggest day ever.
The cafe was fairly small, but 380 table orders had been made, she said.
''It gets pretty intense,'' Ms Hussey said.
''We always stay open all the way through. We just keep getting busier and busier.'
Some of the tables could seat up to eight people, so potentially thousands of customers could have been served.
She attributed that partly to so many other cafes closing for the day, but said the ''huge cruise ship'' the Sea Princess coming in had also helped matters.
In the last five days, about 70% of customers at the cafe had been tourists, she said.
''Dunedin is trending at the moment,'' she said.
