Nick Beekhuis, owner-operator of Offtrack Mountain Bike Tours, has noticed his season getting longer.
"I am seeing more people after Easter, when that used to be the cut-off. Now I'm getting people into May. For me, the season starts in late November, which is later than other operators might notice.
"My biggest month is January and that would have grown 50% in the past two years. But you have to remember a couple of years ago my numbers were pretty small, so it doesn't take much to see an improvement.''
Based in Dunedin, Beekhuis takes his cycling clients far and wide: from Otago Peninsula to the Catlins to Central Otago and elsewhere.
Targeting independent travellers (those who book everything themselves versus choosing a package holiday), he has observed a spilling over of tourists heading to hotspots such as Queenstown.
"The classic independent tourist route is to fly into Christchurch, hire a vehicle, drive to Queenstown, then Wanaka and up the West Coast to Nelson, then head back to Christchurch, via either Kaikoura or one of the alpine passes - or the other way round.
"But people with a few more days to spare will come on down to Dunedin. We are getting more people doing that.''
Cycling is certainly a major contributor to Otago's economy.
Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism John Key recently released a report showing the New Zealand Cycle Trail (a fragmented 2500km network comprising 10 trails in the North Island and another dozen in the South Island, including six at least partially in Otago) generated about $37 million in economic benefits, was used by more than a million people last year and had directly resulted in 1300 people being employed.
The report included a breakdown of the economic impact of each trail for last year and showed the Queenstown Trail led the way nationally with 211,901 visitors, and $14.4 million in revenue.
This made up the lion's share of total revenue of just over $20 million for Otago trails, including the Alps to Ocean Cycle Trail (18,163 visitors, $2.16 million) and the Otago Central Rail Trail (17,164 visitors, $1.35 million).
Enterprise Dunedin director John Christie says tourism's contribution to Dunedin's economy has tracked steadily upward in the last few years, the amount spent by visitors increasing by more than 10% per annum for the past three years.
International visitors contributed $174 million to the Dunedin economy in the year ending March 31. In comparison, domestic visitors spent $457 million, a total of $631 million.
"In addition to strategic and tactical campaign work undertaken by Tourism NZ and Enterprise Dunedin, the lowering cost of air travel and the huge increase in passenger arrivals into New Zealand are driving growth,'' Christie explains.
"Air connectivity is key to growth in Dunedin's tourism market, particularly through Auckland, which gives access to over 17 international ports. It's crucial to maintain direct flights into Australia via Brisbane, and we're aiming to develop services to Sydney and Melbourne.
"Road and air connectivity to Christchurch is also important, especially as the number of Chinese carriers using the South Island's main gateway port increases.''
