Tourism Waitaki Ltd (TWL) presented its half-yearly report for the 2024-25 financial year to the Waitaki District Council this week.
Results outlined by TWL in its report under the company’s reporting and performance goals — to increase visitor spend and the length of stay in Waitaki using trend information from the Accommodation Data Programme and Tourism Electronic Card Transaction data — showed visitor levels were "maintained or increased" over the current 12-month period compared with the previous 12 months.
The summer season in Waitaki beginning in December 2024 brought "mixed tourism outcomes", the report said.
While visitor card transactions and guest nights in the international market saw notable increases, the domestic market "lagged slightly" behind 2023.
Domestic visitor spending declined by 3% year-on-year, mirroring "a decrease" in domestic guest nights.
At the same time, international spend and guest nights were up significantly by 16% and 23% respectively.
Board of directors chairman Mike McElhinney said tourism activity had started off "very very well" in the first six months to December 31.
And significantly, returns from the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony were virtually back to pre-Covid levels, he said.
It sold 36,560 entry tickets sold from July 1-December 31.
The last comparative peak in 2018 saw 36,728 tickets sold for July-December.
The colony received 36,560 visitors in the six months to the end of December last year, the Chinese market continuing to dominate.
It made up over 56% of all visitors to the colony (15,543) for the period.
New Zealand residents outside Waitaki (4366), Europe (2949) and Australia (2949) were the next largest visitor segments.
Mr McElhinney said some major asset improvement was planned for the colony.
At the same time, the board of directors had opted not to take a fee directly from the district council, being paid instead from TWL dividends.
"That is a first."
TWL general manager Philippa Agnew outlined a "strong performance" in her report.
TWL had successfully navigated significant promotion for Waitaki in the period utilising Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony revenue.
As such, it operated without subsidy by the district council.
"Tourism Waitaki has also continued to work with significantly reduced staffing levels compared to pre-Covid, with greater reliance on highly productive external contractors," Dr Agnew said.
Several "notable marketing highlights" included national coverage of the area for the All Blacks game in Dunedin in July.
A Seven Sharp piece had also significantly profiled the area.
Dr Agnew said the increasing international visitor numbers did reflect "improving spend" in Waitaki and the second half of 2024-25 looked promising.
That was based on visitor numbers to the colony during January and February "surpassing expectations".
Cr Jim Thomson congratulated the TWL board and noted the penguin colony as particularly "the shining star in the stable".
"Are we going to see an extension to your scientific work, which I would suggest is as valuable as the tourism work," he asked.
Dr Agnew said there was indeed interesting work going on in the background.
Other significant initiatives extending the research aspect of the colony and deploying technology were also in train.
