South Canterbury’s gangbuster weekend
The South Canterbury region is going gangbusters, with much of its accommodation fully booked due to a slew of major events across the district this weekend.
From Waimate to Mt Cook, accommodation providers are putting up the house full signs, as tourists come from far and wide to attend events.
The 50th edition of the annual Waimate Shears started on Thursday, and runs till tomorrow, while the popular Waimate 50 motorsport event kicked off yesterday, for the first of two weekends of racing.
In the Mackenzie, the Aoraki Mackenzie Starlight Festival began in Mt Cook yesterday, and in Fairlie organisers were gearing up for another successful Fairlie Heritage Market, celebrating the town’s heritage, which kicked off last night.
At the Makikihi Country Hotel, manager Iain Lindsay reported a full house over the next two weekends.
‘‘I don’t think we have any rooms left. We get a hell of a lot of work out of Waimate now and it’s only going to get better.’’
Waimate Hotel manager Teegen O’Leary said accommodation was fully booked across both weekends.
‘‘It’s normally pretty busy for us with these events and as far as I know, people in town are very excited.’’
Maureen McColl and Kathy Pettengell were setting up for the Fairlie Heritage Market on Friday and hopeful the success of last year’s 150th anniversary celebrations would roll over to this year’s market, with thousands of people expected.
Fairlie Holiday Park co-owner Mary-Jane Gilbert said their accommodation had been ‘‘very busy’’ over the last two weeks with school holidays and she expected the trend to continue over the weekend.
Further up the road in Twizel, Mt Cook and Tekapo, accommodation was also maxed out. A spokeswoman for the Aoraki Mt Cook Alpine Lodge said the lodge’s 16 rooms were booked up all weekend.
In Twizel, a Mountain Chalet Motels spokeswoman said it was ‘‘very busy, but it’s busy anyway as it’s our high season, and it’s school holidays’’.
South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce chief executive Wendy Smith said the events were ’’absolutely brilliant’’.
They had a strong economic value for the region but the ‘‘legacy it leaves behind’’ was the key, she said. ’’The Waimate 50 itself has put Waimate on the map, people schedule in to come.’’
Waimate wasn’t the ‘‘typical tourist destination’’, like Tekapo, but putting on events in the town created a reason ‘‘for people to come’’ and it was fantastic for locals, creating a vibrant atmosphere, Smith said.
Aoraki Development chief executive Nigel Davenport said the weekend highlighted ‘‘that central location we have got in terms of domestic tourism is a huge plus for us in attracting the quality and diversity of some of these events,’’ he said.