17 Mar 2015

Te Puia builds up $1m in bank

7:23 am on 17 March 2015

The big Maori visitor attraction, Te Puia, has built up cash reserves of more than $1 million.

Pohutu Geyser and the blue pool.

Pohutu Geyser and the blue pool. Photo: Supplied

The Crown-owned geothermal tourist spot in Rotorua says it has a site 'masterplan' for upgrades, and is not short of projects to spend the $1.385 million on.

Future developments include the kitchen and cafe, which are ageing and dated.

Te Puia chief executive Tim Cossar said there were plans to link up to another tourism attraction.

"At the southern end of our site a leg of the national cycleway goes through it and that's opened up some opportunities around, potentially, cycle tourism or ways that the valley could be viewed by bike"

"We're not short of on-site projects that we can invest in and use those reserves to ensure the business is operating on a full tank of gas and is future-proofed".

Mr Cossar said a reasonable sum of money also needed to be spent on signage to make directions more coherent for visitors.

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