It's been a bumper summer season for tourism to the Coromandel thanks to the great weather, say tourism operators, businesses and information centres.

Overall visitor numbers appear to be higher over the peak holiday season compared to last year while spending has increased to areas where those numbers didn't rise.

Visitor numbers to the Coromandel and spending in certain areas appears to up across most of the district this summer. Photo: File

Thames-Coromandel District mayor Glenn Leach says the council is very pleased businesses are experiencing a successful summer.

'So many people have come to have a great time on the Coromandel, enjoying the outstanding beaches and scenery and all the events and activities here.

'As a Council, we want to do everything we can to help support, promote and work to keep this up through the shoulder season and into winter.”

DISTRICT-WIDE

Regional tourism operator Destination Coromandel says traffic to their website was up by more than 50 per cent over the last two months.

Manager Hadley Dryden says a major driver had been the Good For Your Soul campaign, featuring a contest to win a holiday in the Coromandel.

The busy season was also reflected in council services, with water use in the main visitor centres on the east coast increasing over the peak holiday period compared to the same time last year.

Onemana led the pack with water use jumping 25 per cent, Hahei was up 18 per cent, Whangamata 12 per cent and Pauanui 13 per cent.

The amount of rubbish and recycling collected was also up in most centres from last year - but a greater percentage of the total was diverted from landfills to recycling centres.

Requests to Council for Land Information Memoranda - which indicates real estate market activity - have been similar to last year - which was the highest number in the last four to five years.

EVENTS

Major events drew thousands of people to the d, with the Leadfoot Festival attracting about 6,500 petrol heads over the Waitangi Day weekend.

The Whitianga Waterways concert featuring rock legends Heart, Foreigner and Three Dog Night pulled another 8,500 fans through the gates on January 25.

Coromandel Town's Keltic Fair on January 2 drew a near-record crowd of 13,500 people to what the organisers say is the biggest one-day fair in the country.

MERCURY BAY

Mercury Bay Business Association chair Gary Fitzsimons says the weather has been perfect and it's been a great season so far.

He says: 'We've heard of people staying an extra 8-10 days. More families were staying than in previous years and people were spending more.”

Whitianga i-SITE manager Cara Jordan adds the number of people coming in to the information centre was down slightly on last year, but people were spending more.

Visitors were spending more money on accommodation, activities and fishing, she says.

While Whitianga Ferry owner Fred Acke says despite the lack of the Coromandel Gold music festival on New Year's Eve, passenger numbers were up by at least 5 per cent over the last year.

The park and ride service from Hahei to the Cathedral Cove trail head saw a 50 per cent increase in business. The Mercury Bay Summer Shuttle from Ferry Landing to Hahei also had more users.

COROMANDEL TOWN

Coromandel Town Business Association member Brenda Kelsey says people there were 'really happy” with how the summer has gone.

Accommodation providers have told her the busy season got off to an early start in November and was still going.

While one motel owner told her it had been their second busiest summer in the seven years they had owned the business.

Brenda adds: real estate agents have also been kept hopping and food markets reported a "brilliant summer".

Coromandel Information Centre manager Sandra Wilson says the usual second wave of visitors who don't have kids - which begins later in January - was the best in several years.

'We have had lots of enquiries from groups wanting to do walks and booking accommodation.”

Business was also up for the ferry from Auckland, says 360 Discovery Cruises manager James Bailey.

Once the weather improved in time for Christmas, bookings shot up.

'In January we took about 750 more people to Coromandel than last year,” says James, 'and February up to the Waitangi Day long weekend was much better than last year.”

THAMES

Thames i-SITE manager Maureen Sheary says visitors had been pouring through their doors, with December and January traffic up more than 10 per cent over the same months last summer.

A new trend this year, says Maureen, was Asian families from Auckland coming on weekends for a look with a view to bringing overseas guests another time.

'The trend was expected because Tourism New Zealand and the national i-SITE organisation had done a big marketing push to let people in Auckland know how close the Coromandel was.

'The big hits for visitors to the Thames i-SITE were Hot Water Beach, Cathedral Cove, kauri trees and waterfalls and the drive up the Thames Coast.”

Maureen adds: 'The Hauraki Rail Trail is popular with weekend visitors and lots of people were always asking about the Kauaeranga Valley.”

The Department of Conservation Kauaeranga Visitor Centre saw 40 per cent more visitors in January this year than last, with nearly 7,000 people coming through their doors.

WHANGAMATA

Over in Whangamata, Info Plus centre manager Wilma Kmilcik says they had more visits than the last couple of years, with nearly 8,000 people coming through in January.

"Our summer was quite good,” says Wilma 'People were asking about accommodation, walks, surfing and paddle-boarding.”

TAIRUA

While Tairua has been inundated with visitors over the summer, says Information Centre manager Rowena Brown.

'We're the first port of call on the eastern seaboard. We've been very busy.”

'People are interested in the two main attractions on that coast: Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove”

Rowena says visitors want to know tide times and are also asking about boat excursions, walks and attractions further afield, including Hobbiton in Matamata.

PAUANUI

Pauanui i-SITE manager Jewel Hughes says they were 'so busy” but after crunching the numbers she discovered they were three to four visitors down each day compared to last year.

'I think this year everybody was at the beach,” says Jewel. 'But they made more bookings for tour operators than last year.

'And people were staying on unlike the usual drop-off in business the town sees from early January.”

Paul Schrader of the Pauanui Business Association agrees and says it has been a good summer, with lots of people still around.