…. Continuing the report from last week… see Part 1 dated 5 May.

Did you wonder why a little motel blog has been having a rave about boring irrelevant issues such as Taupo’s falling fishing licence sales?  We confess…  This week NZ’s tourism boom is being discussed at NZ’s biggest tourist industry trade event (TRENZ) at Rotorua – attracting over 350 key tourism industry people and trade buyers from 28 countries.  They are looking for new tourist opportunities to exploit, particularly in the quieter ‘shoulder season’ – like right now.

So this report is specially for them to discover… if they are lucky.

In addition to those shakers and movers in the tourist business, it is also concerning to all Tongariro anglers and Turangi residents that the tourism advantages of Taupo fishing have not been promoted for so long.  Falling licence revenue means less will be available to maintain the fishery in many ways, from research into the lake food chain, to maintaining access tracks, etc..

Now the annual fishing licence sales pattern is less than half the number thirty years ago it should be a major concern to Taupo Council?  Despite claiming to be a tourist economy, they probably have not even noticed.  Comparatively, in Turangi this is a major concern.  It affects everyone.  It is no secret that Turangi is struggling economically.

The resident population continues to decline (down 8.9% from 2006 to 2013, now under 3,000).  The shopping centre has far too many empty shops.  Two more shops (businesses originally established over 30 years ago) have closed recently.  Property prices languish at 25% below the 2007 peak (that is for residential housing – not tourist motels, which are booming!).

With so many wonderful tourist amenities such as the Tongariro Crossing, Whakapapa skifields, dual National Parks, Tongariro River, Lake Taupo, mountain bike tracks, all year round wild trout fishing, rafting, hiking trails, strategic location on SH1 half way Auckland & Wellington, etc. this has to be just a temporary slump.  Turangi’s economy can only go up from here.

The local problem, common with many other small NZ towns, is lack of employment opportunities.

The only industry surviving in Turangi is “tourism” which is largely based around the traditional trout fishing on the Tongariro River.  International anglers paying homage to the Tongariro River are BIG business.  They come here regularly, many visit TRM several times each year, stay longer, spend more, and keep on coming back.  So many more should be targeted.

We are grateful to DOC (Department of Conservation manage the Taupo fishery) and Fish & Game for providing the extensive summaries of licence sales to confirm the pattern.  TRM are hesitant to push this issue as much as it deserves as SWMBO will no doubt be accused of vested interest in more anglers trying to pump sales to improve motel occupancy.  So?

The issue is that this Taupo/Tongariro fishery is a valuable national treasure that is not sufficiently appreciated by local or central Government and should be nurtured and marketed far more.  They should be promoting the competitive advantage of  Taupo/Tongariro particularly at this ‘shoulder’ time of the year – when all other wild trout fisheries close for spawning, this region remains ‘open’ all year round.  Instead, sadly, it has been neglected.

The winter spawning runs are legendary.  Historically they are world famous.

The Tongariro River is the best known trout river in NZ, even without any promotion.  But in the bigger picture, in the immediate future, the fall in Taupo licence sales needs to be arrested by traditional destination advertising.

Now that tourism is NZ’s largest ‘earner’ (Tourism now tops dairy as NZ’s biggest foreign exchange earner bringing in more than $11 Billion from overseas visitors in the last year and worth close to $30 Billion annually when domestic traffic is counted.) the Tongariro River’s drawing power commands far more respect.

The Taupo trout fishery, largely a wonderful 100% pure natural phenomena offering a wild trophy trout fishery open all year, has a significant major strategic commercial advantage over the rest of the world.

Unfortunately the falling licence sales confirm how badly it has been neglected.  It deserves much better.

DOC may claim their job is ‘management’ as they cannot promote the fishery without an adequate $$$ budget?  Taupo Council may also claim it is not their responsibility.  etc…..

So nothing happens.  They shirk their responsibility.  (This is the same council that fined TRM for promoting Turangi as the Trout Fishing Capital of the World…)  They rely on many small local businesses to do their promotion for them ( i.e. see TRM report yesterday with eight other fishing reports promoting the Tongariro River).  Somehow the Tongariro trout fishery has been forgotten by them for far too long.

As mentioned in the 5 May report, compared to the excellent promotion to attract tourists to the trout fishing in Otago and Southland, the local council and DOC have failed miserably.

This tragedy is reflected in the graphic illustration below by directly comparing Taupo’s falling licence sales since 2001 against F&G stronger consistent sales maintained throughout the rest of NZ.

Please do not blame DOC.   We have finally identified the problem.  The evidence is irrefutable.

The similar strong sales pattern was maintained for twenty plus years until SWMBO bought TRM and started promoting the Tongariro fishing….

I rest my case.

Compare:

Annual Taupo licence sales: National fishing licence sales 1981 to 2014

Year – Taupo  :  NZ  – Totals & Adult Season licence sales:           

1981    74518    10816                  76526     57664

1982    69515    10945                 77395     60403

1983    77193    11784                  75195    60050

1984    76303    12521                78113     62783

1985    82291    13410                78143     61426

1986    83829    12635               80386     62525

1987    80010    13226               74765     59944

1988    79103    12548               73948    59505

1989    78994    12548               69486    56082

1990    75767    11591                 65217    52976

1991    69038    10511                63043    48183

1992    66788    10275               60193    46199

1993    68142    10307               60456    45695

1994    70705    11587                65064     49208

1995    66844    11552               70910     53041

1996    68285    11848              71583     54555

1997    62590    11843              74204     57153

1998    67174    12571               73073     56796

1999    70637    13214              72104    55996

2000    74293    14008            71738    50194

2001    66697    11659              71603   39741

2002    68067    13488            67935   35902

2003    56454    12290            67718    35082

2004    54036    12524            69596    36311

2005    54229    12557             69607    39932

2006    55160    12429             72092    38802

2007    54116    12065              74626    39461

2008    48760    10955            75982    40291

2009    44960    10087            75404     38632

2010    41363     8650              76192    38532

2011    42235      9791              72701     37114

2012    41332     8643              74791     38789

2013    39640     8652             77386     39489

2014    39513     8965             78468    39379