Te Kūiti Holiday Park closes after running at $30k loss each year
Photo:
Waitomo District Council
After six unsuccessful years, Waitomo District Council is calling time on the Te Kūiti Holiday Park, which will close on Monday.
Council chief executive Ben Smit said the holiday park, which was built before he started at the council, was an unusual asset for a council to own.
However, Waitomo owns two - it also owns and operates the Marokopa Holiday Park.
Te Kūiti Holiday Park opened in April 2019 and Smit said it only ever attracted around 200 to 250 visitors a year and never covered costs.
"It never really had a heyday," he said.
The facility cost about $45,000 a year to maintain and operate, and only raised revenue of around $13,000, meaning ratepayers in the small King Country town were subsidising the facility by about $30,000 a year.
The decision to close the facility was determined at Waitomo District Council's monthly council meeting on 27 May.
Shortly after the decision, Mayor John Robertson posted online that the decision was an example of council acting decisively.
"The Te Kūiti Holiday Park has been a drain on rates ever since it opened in December 2018.
"Hardly used for the purpose it was built, sometimes used inappropriately, it cost a packet to build and has been consuming over $30,000 per annum of ratepayer money to operate," he said.
He didn't think the council should be running holiday parks and posted the council was hoping to lease the coastal Marokopa Holiday Park out to a suitable operator.
Smit said the district served freedom campers well, which might be part of why the holiday park was under-utilised.
"[Several locations offer] a really good environment for campers to stay, so there's no real drive for them to use the Te Kūiti Holiday Park."
In a statement the council said the motorhome dump station near the holiday park would remain operational.
It also said planning was underway to relocate the Te Kūiti bathroom and kitchen facilities to the Marokopa Holiday Park to replace ageing facilities there.
Other assets from the closed holiday park would be repurposed elsewhere.
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