Latest economic data which shows Rotorua recording further strong growth underlines a 'massive year” for the district, Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick says.

The latest Infometrics quarterly economic report, for the September quarter, showed a lift in all but one economic indicator with GDP up 3.8 per cent for the year to September, compared with 3.2 per cent in the Bay of Plenty and 2.8 per cent in New Zealand.

'That's a fantastic result for Rotorua which shows our strong economic standing is continuing, following on from the June quarter when our district topped the country in GDP growth,” the mayor says.

'For the first time in quite a long while, Rotorua is being noticed nationally for the right reasons. All the signs of improvement, optimism and a district moving in the right direction are there – and we want to keep Rotorua moving.

'We are starting to see the results of setting a path and sticking to it. Council's not taking the credit for it all but we have changed the way we do things to work with and alongside our community to help bring about and support positive change,” Steve says.

'[It] has been a massive year. We've changed the story nationally, but as is sometimes the case, some of our harshest critics are here in Rotorua.”

The mayor says some great initiatives are starting to emerge from the community input the council has been getting through its councillor-led portfolios.

A significant milestone was adopting the 2015-25 long-term plan, a process which took a significant amount of time and resources and involved making some tough decisions, she says.

'We set ourselves some lofty goals – but we never would have achieved what we did under the old council set-up.”

Steve says the district is now ideally placed to make the most of the improved economic conditions.

'Rotorua is performing better than many other parts of the country or, in some cases, than New Zealand as a whole and we need to continue to build on that momentum.

'Our economy is showing strong growth, we've had construction activity and an increase in consents for new dwellings and the tourism boom we've been enjoying shows no signs of slowing down.”

According to Info-metrics, the tourism sector is a key contributor to Rotorua's economic growth and the September quarter saw accommodation occupancy rates at their highest since 2008/09.

The district's annual average unemployment rate was 7.8 per cent in September, down from 8.3 per cent a year ago but above the national average rate of 5.8 per cent.

'So there is still work to be done in this area but I'm confident that work we'll do in collaboration with others to promote and support economic growth will, in turn, help to improve this economic indicator as well,” Steve says.

Meanwhile, local business confidence remains high and retail spending has been increasing with stats showing a 5.6 per cent lift from the last quarter – twice the national average.

Spending increased 4.9 per cent in the year to September, compared with a 2.6 per cent increase nationally.

Rotorua's population has also started to grow with stats showing a net international migration increase of 571 in the year to September.

Recent total net migration (national and international) figures from Statistics New Zealand estimated a Rotorua population increase of 700 in the year to June 2015, an increase of 1 per cent on the previous year and the highest estimated growth for 10 years.

'That population increase is influencing our housing and rental markets and those are also looking up,” Steve says. 'Overall, Rotorua is tracking really well and we are on the radar for the right reasons.”