Wild coastal weather has pushed holidaymakers away from the sea, with tourism chiefs in Rotorua and Taupō reporting a cracking start to the 2023 season.

But for tourism operators on the coast it's been the opposite with people packing up and leaving in the face of summer storms and subsequent road closures and disruptions.

Destination Hauraki/Coromandel general manager Hadley Dryden says recent bad weather has seen tourists packing up and leaving by the droves, or not even coming at all.

'The minute you get bad weather reports the queues of traffic leaving are fairly significant.

'But, on the other hand, we have tourism businesses and locals who are adept at handling these situations ... for those who do stay they can end up getting a unique tourism experience that most people don't get.”

Dryden says the region is at the mercy of the environment, which is another reason why people visited.

'But the timing was not ideal at all ... after extremely tough times, to have this happen in the peak period after years of struggles and everyone looking forward to a better season, then this happens, it's just really tough.

'Now the sun comes out, everyone is back trying to get that cash flow going again.

'Some parts are in clean-up mode, but we are all really keen to get the ‘endless summer' vibe going again and keep that going until the end of April.”

Rotorua Economic Development chief executive Andrew Wilson says it's too early in the season for a comprehensive statistical analysis but, anecdotally, local tourism operators were 'pumping along”.

'Everyone is generally pretty positive, but we are still down in terms of visitors coming through the door compared to a few years ago.”

Having the weather bomb arrive in peak tourism season was 'really tough”, Destination Hauraki/Coromandel general manager Hadley Dryden says. Photo/File.

Wilson says, in some ways, the wild coastal weather has been a boon for Rotorua, with reports of holidaymakers heading inland.

'Considering how bad it's been on the beaches, it makes sense for them to come to Rotorua.”

Wilson feels Rotorua is slightly ahead of the game when it comes to getting staff to fill positions due to high demand, but were still struggling to fill some hospitality jobs.

'Getting a space with some tourism operators has been hard, a lot of them are fully booked.

'But our volumes have been better than forecast over summer, there's the odd staffing constraint, but it's the hospitality sector that has more challenges.”

He says during Covid some businesses have to downsize and changed their 'value propositions” to suit the lower number of tourists expected.

'Now we are seeing lots of new staff in some of these businesses, and it takes time to get them trained and up to speed.

'Eat Streat​ has been pumping along and you'd have to go back a few years to say that sort of thing.”

Rotorua Economic Development chief executive Andrew Wilson says some holidaymakers headed to Rotorua to escape recent storms. Photo/File.

He says the outlook for tourism in Rotorua is excellent with events such as the Tarawera Ultra Marathon, set to bring more than 5000 runners to Rotorua, the NRL Indigenous All Stars rugby league match, mountain biking's Crankworx 2023, and the Australasian Police and Emergency Services Games, with around 3000 competitors, heading to Rotorua in February and March.

Love Taupō general manager Jane Wilson says the town has been buzzing over the Christmas/New Year period.

'It's fantastic to welcome back not only our domestic Kiwi visitors but to hear all the foreign accents around the region.

'Our operators are reporting strong enquiry and bookings over the last month, [and] have certainly seen a significant number of international visitors from all over the world.

'Our cafés, retail stores and indoor activity operators have been very busy with the changing weather.

'The rain and wind last week certainly hampered lake activities and some operators certainly felt the effect, reporting a number of cancellations.

'Some of our cafés are still finding it challenging to recruit enough staff, so we ask visitors to be patient and kind. The staff are working hard to meet the large numbers coming through their doors, especially on rainy days.”

- Matthew Martin/Stuff.