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ABOUT
NELSON NEW ZEALAND
Nelson has a population af around 50,000 people. It is
the geographical centre of New Zealand, and is a region
renowned for warm sunshine, fine beaches, lakes, mountains
and native forests. The City of Nelson is large enough
to offer all the services and amenities of a large city
yet is small enough to be intimate, welcoming and friendly.
Nelson is situated in the Tasman District in the top north
west corner of the South Island of New Zealand. The city
is dotted with pleasant cafes and restaurants, and arts
and craft galleries, amid golden sandy beaches and forested
mountains. The region is famous for the production of
world class wines and three of New Zealand�s splendid
national parks lie on the city�s doorstep. The Abel Tasman
National Park, New Zealand�s only coastal National Park,
is renowned for it�s magnificent walking tracks, while
the northernmost peaks of the Southern Alps create an
attractive alpine setting in Nelson Lakes National Park.
The last, Kahurangi National Park, is a wilderness of
native forestry and marble and limestone caves, which
emit trout and various rafting and kayaking rivers.
Nelson began its life as a planned settlement by the New
Zealand Company whose first settlers arrrived in 1842.
Their first task was to grow food for survival and from
this an agricultural economy was born. By the 1850's the
seeds of Nelson's horticultural future had been sown and
the first 'export' apples were shipped out to Wellington.
Nelson enjoys sunny summers and clear crisp winters. Its
setting in Tasman Bay with the backdrop of the Mount Arthur
Range provides a wealth of recreational opportunities.
The fertile Waimea Plain is used for horticulture and
lifestyle blocks while the hillier country of the hinterland
is planted in exotic forests. Port Nelson is Australasia's
premier fishing base. Nelson's Tourism industry has grown
rapidly from a traditional holiday spot for New Zealanders
to a destination now visited by tourists from all over
the world.
Nelson Region's reputation as a great place to visit also
attracts many people who move here permanently - from
all over New Zealand and the rest of the world. The outdoors
lifestyle and recreation opportunities, pristine natural
environment, great wine and food and wonderful climate
are not the only factors; Nelson Region also offers: Excellent
primary and secondary schools Nelson Polytechnic, with
a wide range of courses, from continuing education to
full Bachelor degree courses Excellent sporting facilities
and organisations A vibrant and innovative arts community
region-wide A city and region that is safe & friendly,
with a vibrant, growing economy that supports all the
facilities of a modern city.
The people of Nelson are well known for being skilled
and innovative artisans, especially in pottery, glass
making, bone carving, knitting, basket making and jewellery.
Local restaurants can tempt the most discerning palate
with their superb seafood including: mussels, scallops,
oysters, seasonal whitebait, geoduck and many fish varieties.
The Taste Nelson festival is held each year to celebrate
these culinary delights. Another annual Nelson festival
which has become internationally acclaimed is the New
Zealand Wearable Art Awards - this is a celebration of
local creativity when artisans produce and wear their
own wearable art creations.
Fishing
The Nelson fishing and seafood production sector employs
more people in the region than any other industry and
contributes about $200 million per annum to the Nelson
economy. Nelson boasts the largest fishing port in the
Southern Hemisphere. The Nelson port area caters for more
than one hundred fishing vessels ranging from small local
inshore vessels to large factory trawlers. The deepwater
fishing fleets of three of New Zealand's largest fishing
companies, Amaltal, Sealord Group and Sandfords, can regularly
be seen unloading their cargoes at the port. Smaller fishing
ports are also found throughout the Nelson region and
are home base for additional inshore fishing vessels and
processing plants. Port Motueka, in particular, boasts
a large processing operation owned by Talley's Fisheries
Ltd.
Forestry
Spectacular growth in forest output occurred through the
1990's and Golden Bay in the early 2000's. This is based
on the substantial plantings in the region in the 1920's
and '30's, and a later wave in the 1970's. Nelson region
has 94,000 hectares in plantation forest (as at April
1996, BERL report). About 87 percent of this is radiata
pine, with Douglas fir making up most of the remainder.
This represents 9.0 percent of Nelson's total land area
and 6.4 percent of New Zealand's total area in plantation
forest. Nelson enjoys competitive advantages in forestry
due to the climate, stable soils, comparative lower costs
of production, and proximity to processing and port facilities
(virtually all of Nelson forests are within 50km of the
city). Of the total volume of timber harvested in the
region, 81 percent is exported in various forms.
Agriculture
The majority of pastoral production in the Nelson region
is based on livestock farming: 145,200ha is used for sheep
and beef farming, while dairy farming occurs on 17,579
ha. Export products from the Nelson agriculture sector
include meat and small goods, dairy foods, other foods,
and some wool scour, textiles and leather tanning. Dairy
production is increasing by 5 percent each year, a rate
of increase which is expected to double current production
by 2008. Increases in farm production and dairy conversions
are the main reasons for the predicted growth. The realignment
of the New Zealand dollar exchange rate, and changes to
Dairy Board payment systems were noted in the 1998 BERL
report as likely to improve dairying prospects.
Horticulture
Horticulture is one of the Nelson region's strong areas
of specialisation, and is the second most significant
economic sector (just behind fishing and seafood production).
It now occupies 6,200 hectares of land throughout the
region, and is centred on the fertile Waimea plains. Fruit
growing dominates the horticultural scene (in terms of
both income earned and numbers employed), and apples dominate
fruit growing, contributing more income to the region
than all other horticultural and agricultural sectors
combined. Other major sources of Nelson horticultural
income are other pipfruit, kiwifruit, boysenberries, hops
and grapes. All these crops, except for kiwifruit) are
considered to be Nelson specialties, adapted to the region's
climate and soils.
Tourism
Tourism is our region's fourth largest industry, and the
biggest service industry. It is also growing rapidly,
with for example overseas visitors to the region growing
by 23% over the year to June 1999. The International visitors
who come to Nelson are more likely to be; Independent
travellers Longer stayers Higher total spenders Repeat
visitors New Zealand visitors are split into the broad
segments of; Summer season, traditional family holidaymakers
Short break, higher spend year round visitors Meetings,
conference & conventions visitors Business travellers
Because of our visitor profile, while there are large
hotels and excellent transportation around the region,
most tourism operators located here run small, high quality,
'boutique' operations. There is also a very high seasonality
factor in Nelson Tasman tourism. New Zealand leisure visitors
come to Nelson in large numbers in the peak months of
December and January. The busiest months for international
visitors are February and March, but spread more evenly
throughout the year.
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