We should all welcome visitors

Last week on Wednesday my friend and I enjoyed our morning coffee at a table outside O-del-emz on Hetana St and watched the vibrant happenings with great interest. There were many buses parked on the village green and the street.

We saw loads of school kids, tourists and visitors and talked about how wonderful it is that they stop off in Matamata. We estimated there were over 200 people.

Yes, some don’t shop in the local town, and use the toilets for free.

Do you want to charge for this opportunity and through it encourage those that do spend in the town to stop else where?

Not everyone is willing to pay for a toilet stop. This would make us an unfriendly town.

Did you notice those interviewed in Feilding on TV1’s Breakfast programme the morning that Prince Charles was visiting?

They were all proud of their town and plugged for ‘‘Friendly Feilding’’.

Let’s get over the rates increase and happily share our town with all those who choose to stop off for a free toilet stop or to shop.

There is going to be so many more people coming into Matamata now that Hobbiton has had so much press, what would our town be like without tourism?

Yes I’m a ratepayer (of more than one property) and don’t want to pay when I get ‘‘caught short’’ in town. about 15 minutes giving them no time to venture far.

The local fruit shop seems to the only one to benefit.

A much better solution would be to build a facility at the Tower Museum and let them soak in the atmosphere up there.

It would be a much better photo opportunity than the back of some uninteresting buildings which they see now. have to pay.

I think it’s time to change, no wonder so many buses stop off here to use the facilities.

They think it’s great and they don’t really spend a lot of their money in town anyway. load of people line up to use it, I would think the first person will pay then leave the door open for the next to use so would not be worth the trouble and cost for pay machines in this case.