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Speaker 1: Now. Ratua is one of the North Island's biggest tourism destinations.

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Speaker 1: It's been playing host to a big tourism conference this week,

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Speaker 1: but unfortunately, local business owners say the city feels dead

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Speaker 1: with fewer visitors than pre COVID. Tanya Tapsle is the

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Speaker 1: mayor of Rotu and is with us. Now, Hey, Tanya sureder,

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Speaker 1: what's going wrong?

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Speaker 2: Well, I don't know what this journalist is up to

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Speaker 2: or on, because we have been absolutely smashing it intourism

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Speaker 2: here in To be honest.

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Speaker 1: Okay, I'm loving the energy you're bringing to it. I'm

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Speaker 1: not really that convinced. When adjusted for inflation, Rotru's visitor

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Speaker 1: spend is sitting at around eighty four percent of what

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Speaker 1: it was pre COVID.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, people say pre COVID, this pre COVID,

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Speaker 2: that that was five years ago. And by the way,

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Speaker 2: we are smashing it with the statistics as well. So

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Speaker 2: we're pretty surprised when we saw this very negative media article.

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Speaker 2: We surprised people picking on no, but will we fight back? Yes?

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Speaker 2: And actually, if you look at the numbers averaging nineteen

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Speaker 2: thousand visitors a day, So if you think about the

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Speaker 2: stats that this journalist has chosen to look at spinning

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Speaker 2: data is only on the credit card. Now, how often

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Speaker 2: do we book things using online data? So you know,

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Speaker 2: it's what you choose to pick, and we choose to

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Speaker 2: pick the positive view.

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Speaker 1: But what about all the people who are in little

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Speaker 1: truer who are talking to this journalist and saying this

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Speaker 1: is their experience.

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Speaker 2: Well, the funny thing about that is she's talking about tourism,

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Speaker 2: but they haven't actually asked anyone in tourism. A couple

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Speaker 2: of cafes or rather dodgy looking accommodation provider. And actually

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Speaker 2: we're hosting the biggest tourism industry event in the country

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Speaker 2: at the moment called Trends, and we also are sharing

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Speaker 2: the love on all the great things we're doing. And

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Speaker 2: we've just launched a Northiland collaboration. So when we go

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Speaker 2: all the way around the world promoting it all to do,

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Speaker 2: are we saying, you know what, let's get people around

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Speaker 2: the North Island. So you know, I really pushed back

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Speaker 2: on people thinking and trying to say it or to

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Speaker 2: is not doing good. If you have been here anytime recently,

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Speaker 2: you would have seen this signal for an investment that's

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Speaker 2: gone and the place is looking awesome. I even had

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Speaker 2: the Prime Minister visit at Utuda and say, hey, this

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Speaker 2: place is really cleaned itself up. It's looking awesome. It

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Speaker 2: is really going for golf.

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Speaker 1: Tanya, I understand why. I mean, look, if I was

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Speaker 1: your comms person as your media manager, I would say, Tanya,

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Speaker 1: you go out there and you dispel that notion immediately

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Speaker 1: and get the tourists back in, right, But why would

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Speaker 1: these cafe owners and the dodgy accommodation provided tell us

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Speaker 1: and tell the journalists that there aren't as many tourists, Like,

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Speaker 1: what's in it for them to talk down your town

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Speaker 1: other than to tell the truth.

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Speaker 2: Look, it's easy for people to dig their own hole. Right.

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Speaker 2: I don't know what day of the week this lady

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Speaker 2: went to go ask us them. But the reality is

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Speaker 2: across our hotels we have seen year on year increases,

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Speaker 2: whether that's occupancy, even the daily right that they charge.

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Speaker 2: You know, we really are and always that you look

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Speaker 2: at it, the statistics, we are doing really well and

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Speaker 2: actually even an international visitors. But Autuda is outpacing the

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Speaker 2: rest of the country. These debts, these are actually you

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Speaker 2: can find them online very easily and over the last

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Speaker 2: two months. We're actually up fifteen percent a year on

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Speaker 2: are compared to six percent across New Zealand. So you know,

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Speaker 2: I'm not just out here promoting my destination because I'm

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Speaker 2: the mayor. I'm actually sticking up for what's correct, what's accurate,

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Speaker 2: and actually, like I said, we're smashing it and we

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Speaker 2: will continue to do so.

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Speaker 1: Tanya, thanks very much. I appreciate your time. Mate. It's

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Speaker 1: Tanya taps On, the Mayor of Rotru.

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Speaker 2: For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to

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Speaker 2: news talks.

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Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio