| Title | VALUING USES OF THE WAIKATO AND BAY OF PLENTY GEOTHERMAL RESOURCE |
|---|---|
| Authors | K. Luketina, F. Olubode, Y. Phillips |
| Year | 2017 |
| Conference | New Zealand Geothermal Workshop |
| Keywords | Economic Analysis, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Geothermal Tourism, Geothermal Direct Uses, Geothermal electricity Production, Institutional Grammar Tools, Ecosystem Services |
| Abstract | In 2011, Waikato Regional Council investigated the contribution of geothermal resources to the regional economy, considering four uses: Tourism, Direct Uses, Electricity Production and Ecosystem Services (Barns and Luketina 2011). Tourism and Electricity production together provided $488 million. Bay of Plenty Regional Council followed suit in 2014, finding that the value of geothermal resources to the regional economy including from direct uses was $482.5 million, almost 5% of the region’s GDP (Conroy and Donald 2014). The councils are updating and expanding on these studies, and some aspects of valuing tourism are being researched jointly. Others have focused more specifically on the Waikato Region. Preliminary results for Waikato indicate a substantial increase in tourism visitor numbers, with a gain of 18% in the 2016-2017 year, and a projected increase of 24% for the 2017-2018 year. In 2016, there were 905,000 visits by domestic tourists to geothermal sites in the Waikato Region, up from 450,000 in 2011. Geothermal attractions account for more than 16% of domestic tourism in the Waikato Region, up from 13% in 2012. In 2016 the Waikato Region had a total of 472,000 international visits to geothermal attractions (up from 290,000 in 2011). The nine geothermal power stations in the Waikato region generate 6,230 GWh per year. Value added by geothermal electricity generation is $106 million and associated employee count is 106. Geothermal tourism contributes less to Gross Regional Product than geothermal electricity generation ($74 million versus $106 million) but employs 10 times more people. With these increasing numbers, pressure on infrastructure and on fragile geothermal features and ecosystems is becoming a significant issue for tourism providers and the regulatory authorities tasked with sustainably managing the natural character of the geothermal resource. |