Visitor numbers to geothermal areas

Key Points | Report Card | Technical Information | Data

About 70 percent of New Zealand’s geothermal resources are in the Waikato region. New Zealand’s geothermal features are major tourist attractions for both domestic and international visitors. Access to these areas needs to be managed carefully to protect the natural character of our geothermal attractions. This indicator shows that:

• Approximately 2.6 million people visit geothermal attractions in the Waikato region each year.
• Sixty percent are from New Zealand (1.6 million) and 40 percent (1,000,000) are from overseas.
• Tourism in geothermal areas contributed approximately $206 million to our regional economy in 2009.
• Most people visit geothermal areas to bathe in thermally heated pools.
• Other attractions include nature tourism, and technology-related sites such as the Prawn Park at Wairakei.

The graph below shows how many people were estimated to have visited the Waikato region’s geothermal attractions in 2001 and 2011. It also shows the activities visitors preferred:

• View this graph’s data. The data were collected in the year ended June 2011.
• Find out more about the region’s geothermal resources.
• Find out more in the Report Card.

Updated  9 September 2012

            Private Bag 3038   Waikato Mail Centre   Hamilton 3240   Fax (07) 859 0998     Freephone 0800 800 401