Some regular tourist angling inmates were commenting on how sad it is to watch the demise of Turangi where so many businesses have disappeared.

Naturally SWMBO agreed with them. Of course, She agrees with anything guests say. She knows the rules. But perhaps we have short memories? Previously viable Turangi businesses have been fading away ever since the town was developed to provide housing for the Tongariro Hydro Power project 60 years ago. This follows the decline in the resident population, now less than 3,000. The trend is visually evident in all the empty shops in the town centre.

The reminder they refer to is an old map hanging in TRM’s reception, which listed many local businesses. See how many you recognise who are still operating. I know of one… guess who!

So why the decline? Most of the recent residential property sales in Turangi are for holiday homes. Residential prices are now almost beyond the capacity of local residents but seem so cheap when compared to Auckland – with an average residential price north of $1 million. Therefore the resident population will inevitably continue to shrink.

The lack of employment opportunities affecting Turangi is a biggie. Worse, the lack of any long-term plan to create employment is appalling.

Visitors advise us the answer is obvious… Many other small tourist towns facing similar difficult economic conditions have been re-invigorated by tourist bike trails. But all attempts to extend Turangi’s single loop bike trail, the Tongariro River Trail, have failed from a lack of council support. Feasibility reports of future prospects were prepared over five years ago. They confirmed that the development of tourist bike trails would be the most important initiative to secure the future prospects of Turangi. Six years later nothing has changed…

TRM tried to promote biking by providing bikes for guests free of charge. Over the last 15 years, TRM has “lost” about ten bikes to thefts. Sadly, the last theft spells the end of any further involvement by TRM in providing free bikes for tourists. This has made me grumpy enough to post this…

There is huge potential for the existing Tongariro River Trail to be extended north to Taupo and south to link up with other regions. But, so far, Toe-paw bike trails have failed to link with trails from other regions – such as the Waikato River Trails.

As a direct result, Taupo and Turangi have missed out on major tourist biking events such as the Tour Aotearoa – see map below. The future prospects of Turangi are not looking good…