MEDIA RELEASE

New attractions and old favourites create great memories in Great Lake Taupō

In-door ice skating and thermal hot pools were heaven to campers tired of soggy tents. Rainy days saw visitors to the Great Lake Taupō region sampling new attractions plus re-visiting some of the old favourites.

All this month at Taupō De Brett’s Hot Springs, children pay just $2 with an accompanying adult.  This retro-price offer is part of the Destination Great Lake Taupō, Great Memories campaign. The offer, which will be on TV One in Auckland, Wellington and the lower North Island this week, can be downloaded at GreatLakeTaupo.com/GreatMemories. Together with extended summer hours, the pools have never been busier.

“De Brett’s has been a must-do activity for families coming here for summer holidays for years. This year it is even more appealing with our retro price of $2 for kids and Thursday night entertainment at the pools” commented General Manger Kathy Wilson.

Kids enter for $2 at Taupo DeBretts

Sharing great holiday memories of the region is exactly what visitors were encouraged to do, with the chance to win a $5,000 holiday package. The winning entry will be announced just before Waitangi weekend when the campaign culminates with the Doobie Brothers and Little River Band concert.

“Entertaining anecdotes of family camping at the lakefront and heart-warming stories of love and loss are just some of the entries that we have received so far,” said Destination Great Lake Taupō ‘s General Manger Scott Pearson. ‘With photos, films and poems also in the mix we have decided to consult our Facebook friends to help us pick the winner.”

Despite the changeable weather, Sales and Marketing Manager, Ruth Crampton reports solid numbers for long-time favourite Hukafalls Jet. “While November was relatively flat following the boom we experienced during Rugby World Cup, we have had consistent bookings these holidays, with a higher number of Aucklanders than usual.  We enjoyed an increase of internationals from Europe as well as from Singapore and some other Asian markets”.

With weather discouraging barbecues on the beach and evenings on the lake fishing, Manager of Plateau Restaurant and Bar, Nebojsa Knezevic  reports that “rain is our friend”.

“Plateau is trading ahead of last year no doubt assisted by our recent win in the Monteith’s Wild Food Challenge. The fundamentals of great food and friendly customer service just keep them coming back”.

The rain has been good for Plateau Restaurant

Despite not operating almost 50% of the time due to poor weather, the new Stand Up Paddleboard rental business at Taupō‘s lakefront has been hugely popular with visitors. “On the days we have been open, we have done over double the business we forecast.  We’re here right through to Easter and are very optimistic about bookings over the next few months” commented operator, Lance Gilbertson.

Owner of Replete Café, Chris Johnston is also positive about the months ahead thanks to the district’s strong events programme. “Even though there are still people on holiday, from now on it is going to be the events that bring back the volumes over the long weekends, of which there are plenty. It’s going to be a good season”.

_________________________________________________________________________

ENDS

Media Contact: For further information or images please contact Donna Jarden at Destination Great Lake Taupō on (07) 376 0403 or 027 2765 110.