Hotel plan ditched

Large hotel chain Millennium & Copthorne has scuttled plans to build an 80-bed hotel in Whanga¯rei despite news of a travel bubble with Australia. Managing director BK Chiu said the landscape had “changed beyond measure” since it had entered into a conditional agreement to buy land in the Whanga¯rei CBD from the Whanga¯rei District Council. “We are disappointed that we are not able to proceed with the proposed development but the landscape for tourism and accommodation has changed beyond measure since the agreement for the land was entered into in 2019”, Chiu said. The company paid $2.15m for land in Dent St for the hotel, which was to have been the group’s first hotel in Whanga¯rei. It has three hotels in Northland — in the Bay of Islands, Paihia and in Hokianga.