Coromandel MP Scott Simpson says he is ‘delighted' with the recent release of the region's peak population statistics, which point to an impressive achievement in tourist numbers.

Nearly half a million unique individual visitors were in the Coromandel during the two-and-a-half week Christmas –New Year high season, with a peak visitor night in the district of 126,298 and a further 20,158 day visitors.

'We're a region of both large and small tourist operators and these findings bring credit to everyone involved in not just hospitality, but also all of the allied services which contribute to a great Coromandel visitor experience,” says Scott.

He acknowledges how important accurate visitor numbers are for understanding where people are coming from and how long they are staying, for future work such as, infrastructure planning needed to cope with big numbers concentrated in the region over a short time.

'Qrious, the group who completed the study, are to be congratulated for their attention to detail. They were able to drill down to day-only visitors and first-night stayers, which is fantastic for planning."

'When I stop and think about it, it is quite mind-boggling that our less than 30,000 resident population is multiplied by five at the height of the tourist season – and 43 per cent arrive here from Auckland and 22 per cent have come all the way from an overseas location to experience our beautiful Coromandel summer.”