The passionate defence by the General Manager of Tourism BOP's ill-considered decision to close the I-Site in an easily accessible location in Salisbury Avenue shows deplorable lack of consideration for many thousands of ordinary visitors to The Mount. These people unfortunately are obviously not considered to be worthy of having proper I-Site service available to them when they visit The Mount which is the prime drawcard for Tauranga.
If Mr Arrowsmith walked the streets of The Mount and listened to the views of business people and the general public he would find that there is very little enthusiasm for a Clayton's info centre in a campground office situated in an already overcrowded area. Apparently the decision to close the Salisbury Avenue I-Site was made without any public consultation despite the fact that $285,000 of public funding was given to Tourism BOP for the express purpose of providing information for viisitors.
In view of the fact that zero I-Site service is available for ordinary visitors arriving at The Mount it is reasonable to assume that the entire amount is being spent solely for the benefit of cruise ship visitors. Such enforced class distinction for our visitors is totally unacceptable.
Having spoken directly to several hundred people at The Mount over the past three weeks I can assure Mr Arrowsmith that neither they nor I share his view that Tauranga can be proud of the achievements of his organisation in the way that they welcome our visitors.
Instead, as a resident of Tauranga for 42 years with family who first set foot here in1869 my feelings about the disgraceful and inconsiderate treatment of visitors who do not arrive by cruise ship are of deep shame that a bad image of Tauranga will be spread around NZ and even further afield by visitors whom I met from 16 overseas countries.

Samuel Smith, Otumoetai.