Little spa on track for biggest year on record
It was one of the hardest years for tourism, but for one small town spa complex, it’s lining up to be the best on record.
Sitting at the base of Mt Te Aroha, the Te Aroha Mineral Spas is just weeks away from hitting a record year.
At peak times, spa facility manager Aimee Davies said people were being turned away because they were at full capacity. Yet it hasn’t been smooth sailing. Snap lockdowns in Auckland – its biggest market – and lesser restrictions in Waikato, its second largest customer base, delivered some uncertainty.
The delicate waters of Te Aroha, however, kept doing their job. The spas have offered rich mountain spring water to visitors for more than 100 years, and it continues to draw clientele from across the country.
In the current financial year – and with three months still remaining – the spas have matched its highest level of revenue and as long as business continues as it has, it will be its biggest year.
Over 24,700 people soaked in the natural springs in the last nine months, compared to 31,700 for the full 2018/19 year. May to October is also the spa’s busier period and while summer is often quiet, it’s been busy year-round.
Coming out of lockdown, Davies noticed more people ‘‘got out and explored their backyard’’.
It was when Covid-19 resurged in the community later in 2020 that the tide ebbed.
‘‘Auckland is a huge market for us and when they went into lockdown we noticed a big drop and experienced a number of cancellations,’’ Davies told Stuff.
Davies has worked at the spas for 12 years. She’s been the manager for nine, and says people are looking after themselves a lot more now.
‘‘We have regular customers, as well as senior citizens who often visit once or twice every week,’’ she said.
Revenue has increased by 75 per cent since 2009, but costs have increased with it, by about 60 per cent.
Matamata-Piako District Council business support group manager Manaia Te Wiata said the spas are the one recreational facility that returns a dividend back to the general ratepayer, by roughly $100,000 a year.
‘‘The evidence is there that the spas have done very well and this has given us the confidence to expand and invest’’.