Latest News

12 Oct 2009 - First Tourism Conference a stunning success

More than 40 tourism professionals attended a one day conference at the Surf and Sand conference centre in Ohope recently. Nelson based tourism consultant Craig Wilson ran two interactive workshops and two Tourism New Zealand staff originally from the Eastern Bay of Plenty spoke about the opportunities for local operators to tap into Tourism New Zealand activities. More...

11 Oct 2009 - Summer marketing campaign focuses on family holidays

Toi-EDA’s Summer Marketing campaign is underway targeting New Zealand families making holiday decisions. More...

10 Oct 2009 - Eastern Bay of Plenty presence at Rotorua International airport

Toi-EDA has booked space at Rotorua airport to showcase to arriving travellers what the Eastern Bay of Plenty has to offer. More...

09 Oct 2009 - New events coming up provide something for everyone

Toi-EDA sponsored the first “Winterlicious” dining event. This ran over a two week period in August and was organised by local chef John Lee and event organiser Jennifer Manning. Nine cafes and restaurants featured specially priced menus which were jointly promoted to tempt people to go out and try local cuisine. Positive results mean a “Summerlicious” looks likely. More...

08 Oct 2009 - Trustee profile - Anthony Olsen

Anthony Olsen has been a trustee of Toi-EDA since 2006 and represents the organisation on the Bay of Plenty Regional Governance Group. He is Deputy Chair of Ngati Tuwharetoa [BOP] Settlement Trust and Chair of Ngati Tuwharetoa Holdings Ltd. More...

02 Jul 2009 - New leader for Toi-EDA

Toi-EDA has a new chairman - Jeremy Gardiner, who has been a trustee of the Eastern Bay of Plenty Economic Development Agency since 2007.

Appointed to the position in June, Mr Gardiner is currently chief executive of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa, an iwi authority representing around 15,000 descendants of Ngāti Awa.

01 Jul 2009 - Region's economic growth beats national figure

The Eastern Bay of Plenty has bucked national trends to record better economic growth than the national figure for the March 2009 year.

At +0.3, the growth rate beat the New Zealand figure of -0.9 percent and compared favourably with the full Bay of Plenty region’s rating of +0.5 percent.

30 Jun 2009 - Crucial for Kawerau to monitor development opportunities, report says

Short-term opportunities to establish a logistics and distribution hub at Kawerau are highly uncertain and dependent on key players' commercial needs, a preliminary investigation has found. More...

29 Jun 2009 - Tourism strategy focuses on operator capability

The Eastern Bay of Plenty Tourism Strategy has been released and has been presented to tourism operators from throughout the region. The strategy focuses on building operator capability in marketing and operations to improve their financial sustainability, as well as developing new products and experiences that will appeal to niche markets and provide visitors with more reasons to visit, stay longer and spend more in the Eastern Bay. More...

28 Jun 2009 - Speed dating format boosts tourism forum's effectiveness

The effectiveness of networking at the first Eastern Bay of Plenty Tourism Forum held in Whakatane in May was boosted considerably by the adoption of a "speed dating" type format.

More than 40 tourism operators from Opotiki, Whakatane, Kawerau, Murupara and Ruatahuna were each given just three minutes to meet and market their businesses.

27 Jun 2009 - Food sector strategy out soon

A Bay of Plenty food and beverage sector strategy that builds on the competitive advantages of the region's food sector will be released shortly.

Involving the three Bay of Plenty regional economic development agencies, working in partnership with Food Bay of Plenty Inc, the strategy is designed to build on the competitive advantages of the region’s food sector.

27 Jun 2009 - YES teams present oral business plans

The six YES teams from Whakatane High School, Opotiki College, Edgecumbe College and Trident High School presented their oral business plans to a panel of judges last month.

The Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) is a business course based on hands-on experience, requiring students to set up and run their own enterprise for the school year.

27 Jun 2009 - Eastern Bay a ray of sunshine at fieldays

The Eastern Bay of Plenty added a welcome touch of sunshine to the national Fieldays at Mystery Creek, Hamilton, last month. Toi-EDA staff manned a colourful stand at the event, promoting the Eastern Bay of Plenty as a visitor and lifestyle destination. Capitalising on massive national publicity about Whakatane's sunshine hours, the stand had a "golden sunshine" theme designed by artist staff member Adrienne Ranson, and it certainly drew plenty of attention. More...

10 Mar 2009 - Locals learn radical marketing techniques

Some Whakatane and Opotiki businesses owners could be launching some new and very different marketing campaigns as a result of attending an unusual marketing workshop held in the town on March 2. More...

10 Mar 2009 - 'E-Day' inspires budding entrepreneurs

Forty Eastern Bay of Plenty senior secondary school pupils took part in "E-Day," aimed at inspiring their efforts in this year's Lions Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) business course. More...

10 Mar 2009 - Daily return flights would solve business problem says Toi-EDA

A campaign aimed at persuading Air New Zealand to start daily return flights from Wellington to Whakatane has been launched by Toi-EDA.

A morning direct flight from Wellington to Whakatane would solve a problem for business visitors and save them hours of time, says Toi-EDA Manager of Marketing and Economic Development, Mary Hermanson.

10 Mar 2009 - Marketing campaign targets Wellingtonians

Toi-EDA’s marketing and events office has launched a multi-media marketing campaign aimed at enticing Wellingtonians to Whakatane for exciting weekend “getaways.” The campaign will trial online banner and Google advertisements in addition to the more conventional newspaper and billboard ads. More...

10 Mar 2009 - Regional Partnership eyes food sector opportunities

Toi-EDA is involved in a Regional Partnership project to hire a consultant to put together a food sector strategy for the Bay of Plenty. More...

10 Mar 2009 - Growth in events defies national trends

Summer is on the way out, but work at Toi-EDA’s marketing and events office hasn’t slowed. Events Operations Manager Mike van der Boom and Events Marketing Manager Nicola Burgess are now hard at work fine tuning a variety of major events coming up over the next few months. More...

10 Mar 2009 - Visitor growth great news for Whakatane

More people visited the Whakatane Information Office in 2008 than ever before, thanks to Toi-EDA’s efforts in promoting the Whakatane district. More...

05 Nov 2008 - Fishing cluster explores protection of skipjack fishery

Toi EDA and its predecessor, the Eastern Bay of Plenty Economic Development Board, have worked closely with the local fishing industry on various issues. The Whakatane Charter Fishing cluster in conjunction with the Whakatane Sport Fishing Club held a meeting in September attended by Ministry of Fishery spokesperson Graham McGregor and representatives from all the Bay of Plenty fishing clubs. More...

05 Nov 2008 - Events marketing all go

It’s all go in Toi-EDA’s Events Marketing office, with a host of exciting events coming up over the busy summer season, including the Whirinaki Quest mountain bike race and Tois Challenge More...

05 Nov 2008 - Airport could be in for major boost

The economic development agency is looking into the possibility of promoting the airport as a less busy alternative to some of the country’s main airports for the multi-million dollar international training industry. More...

05 Nov 2008 - Whakatane's Rugby World Cup Campaign

Whakatane could stand to benefit when the 2011 Rugby World Cup is staged in New Zealand. The event has prompted the Whakatane District Council to bring forward plans to give Rugby Park stadium a major upgrade including changing rooms, toilet facilities and an improvement to the turf itself. More...

05 Nov 2008 - Economic Development

Economic development programmes continue to benefit the local economy, including Enterpise training, the Beacon Business & Leisure Show, the Eastern Bay of Plenty Tourism Strategy and the Bay of Plenty Regional Partnership More...

05 Nov 2008 - Latest marketing activities

Several marketing campaigns are underway including the 2009/2010 Visitor Information Guide, the 2008 Whakatane Christmas Card, as well as advertising campaigns in leading magazines and newspapers More...

05 Nov 2008 - Toi-EDA tackles power wastage issue

Last month Manager Marketing and Economic Development Mary Hermanson wrote to Transpower CEO Patrick Strange, expressing Toi-EDA’s concern that surplus electricity generated in the region is not able to be fed into the national grid and re-routed to other parts of the North Island when demand at Kawerau is low. More...