Trail to be ready for summer
The Government has announced $1.6 million to repair and reopen Tasman’s GreatTaste Cycle Trail, which was badly damaged in the region’s two extreme rain events.
Speaking in Richmond on Friday, Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston said the trail was an important tourism asset for the region, making the level of investment “a bit of a no-brainer”.
The funding meant the trail could reopen in time for the summer, bringing visitors back to the region, and supporting local businesses, jobs and communities, she said.
Upston added she had decided to come here for her summer holiday, which was “absolutely” a signal that the region was open for business.
Around 35km of the trail was significantly damaged in the floods, and total repair and rebuild costs were estimated to tally up to $3.1m, according to a Tasman District Council (TDC) report.
Fixing the trail is to be done in two tranches, the first of which includes all affected trail sections apart from Wakefield to Belgrove, which is still in the planning stages.
Nelson Tasman Cycle Trails Trust chairperson Gillian Wratt said the $1.6m would cover some of the work that had already been completed, plus some additional work such as preparing bridges.
The plan was to have a full loop rideable by Christmas.
There was still a need to identify where the trail could be built through the 8km seriously damaged section from Wakefield to Belgrove, and a proposal would be put together for the TDC and the Great Rides funds for that section, Wratt said.
There was still a lot of windfall of trees up to Spooners Tunnel, and the trust was waiting for forestry companies to clear that and do their logging on some of those sections, she said.
Wheelie Fantastic Cycle Tours co-owner Nicky McBride said after the floods, bookings went quiet, dropping 35% to 40%.
Ninety percent of their customers are international, and the majority of those come from the United States, typically travelling between November and April.
“It’s not the Americans sitting in America who are going ‘Oh crikey don’t go to Tasman, they’ve had a big storm’. That’s not the problem.
“It’s the agents, [the] inbound operators who are in New Zealand. It’s just making sure they know that we’re open for business.”
The Great Taste Trail, one of New Zealand’s official Great Rides, is a 200km, mainly off-road route, that loops inland from the Tasman Bay coastline.
A 2023 economic analysis showed that the trail brought in $34m in economic benefits to the region over the year to June, and trail counters show it is used by 400,000 people annually. At present, 85% of the trail is back open.
Tasman mayor Tim King said resilience was always a challenge when a trail was built up and across rivers.
The damage between Wakefield and Belgrove was “unimaginable”, and the land the trail was on had in many cases disappeared.
King said one of the key areas most significantly impacted was owned by the Lines family, which was the location where Peter Lines lost his life in the aftermath.
These property owners over the last decade had played their part in locating the trail along the Wai-iti River, he said.
“While the loss of the trail was devastating … the land that it was on, and the life that was lost will never be recovered.
“I just think that needs to be remembered as we go forward, and hopefully recognised in some way.”
During her visit, Upston also announced a $50,000 injection to the region for domestic tourism marketing, and an additional $300,000 for Enhanced Task Force Green, a programme that enables the Ministry of Social Development to employ local jobseekers to help farmers and growers recover from the floods.
By Warren Gamble, Nelson Mail
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