A dedicated rescue helicopter is to be based at Whitianga for the peak Coromandel holiday season.
The Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust says there's been a 70% increase in the number of missions flown to the Thames Coromandel region since 2006.
The trust's chief executive, Bob Parkinson, says there were 40 missions over the Coromandel last summer and another 10 had to be turned down.
Holidaymakers swell the Thames-Coromandel population from 27,000 to about 150,000 during the Christmas break.
