Latest News

08 Sep 2010 - Toi-EDA is working on a project to attract softwood processing to Kawerau

With the help of well known forest industry consultant John Galbraith Toi-EDA has produced an attraction document for potential investors. More...

07 Sep 2010 - Opotiki Aquaculture delegation pays their second visit to Yantai

The Opotiki relationship with Oriental Ocean a major fish processing company in Yantai, China has developed to a point where it is likely that an aquaculture partnership will be started this year. Mayor John Forbes, several Opotiki councillors and others including Toi-EDA Chairman Jeremy Gardiner visited Yantai as part of their Shangahi expo visit. More...

06 Sep 2010 - Motu Cycle Trail project receives funding of $1.74 million

The Eastern Bay of Plenty tourism sector has been boosted by the success of the Motu Cycle Trail project. The trail will address the shortage of sustainable tourism product in the Opotiki district and with the temperate climate the cycle trail should have year round use. More...

05 Sep 2010 - Toi-EDA now has a better understanding of migration patterns in the Eastern Bay of Plenty

BERL Economics have completed a study of the movement of people into and out of the Whakatane urban area and the Opotiki and Kawerau districts. More...

04 Sep 2010 - Destination TV "Hit the Road" episode to screen this month

The EBOP sunny reputation will be bolstered this month when the Destination TV "Hit the Road" travel episode on EBOP will screen on Australia's channel 7 to an audience of hundreds of thousands. More...

03 Sep 2010 - Whakatane.com is being redeveloped to provide local businesses with more visitors

A major project is being undertaken by Toi-EDA to redevelop Whakatane marketing website. The new website will focus solely on tourism and visitor information resulting in a cleaner and more user friendly site. More...

02 Sep 2010 - 2010 Beacon Business and Leisure Show attracts the crowds

The Beacon Business and Leisure Show held 3-5 September attracted 6500 visitors who enjoyed seeing what the EBOP had to offer. 102 businesses and leisure organisations with the odd politician thrown in for good measure entertained the crowds throughout the three day event. More...

04 Aug 2010 - BERL Research Project

Toi-EDA engaged BERL to undertake a research project to better understand the migration patterns of people in the Whakatane urban area and Kawerau and Opotiki districts. More...

04 May 2010 - Demographic Study of urban centres

Toi-EDA has engaged BERL to undertake some demographic research to provide a better understanding around migration patterns of people into the urban centres of Whakatane, Kawerau and Opotiki. More...

03 May 2010 - Shanghai Expo

Toi-EDA chairman Jeremy Gardiner will be part of the Bay of Plenty delegation heading for Shanghai, China in July. This World Expo being held in 2010 will be the biggest in world history and it is expected to draw 70 million visitors from 192 countries. More...

02 May 2010 - Cycleways

In December 2009 Toi-EDA lodged a concept proposal for a coastal cycle way with the NZ Cycle Trail Project. The proposal was not successful in gaining funding from the national project however the national team had identified it a as a strong proposal and encouraged the community to continue with the project. More...

01 May 2010 - Forestry and wood processing

A promotional booklet is being prepared to highlight the opportunity around Kawerau for further wood processing industries. Kawerau has industrial land, geothermal energy, skilled service industries, rail and a central location that make it attractive to further investment. Toi-EDA is working to promote these advantages. More...

30 Apr 2010 - Beacon Business and Leisure Show

The organising committee are please to welcome back the Beacon as naming right sponsor for the 2010 show which is being held September 3-5. Sarah Thomas is the new show organiser and brings a wealth of experience of large events. More...

26 Apr 2010 - Marketing

Promoting kiwi family holidays, good fun, life-long memories has been the theme of Eastern Bay of Plenty marketing over the summer with advertisements with a similar look and feel used for all the areas. More...

24 Apr 2010 - Events

Three new events created a lot of interest over February and March, Hot Summer Nights Street Fiesta, Matata Picnic Day and the Rangitaiki River Festival More...

20 Apr 2010 - Staff Profile - William Stewart

Toi-EDA was pleased to welcome back William Stewart to the Eastern Bay of Plenty to cover for marketing manager Nicola Burgess who is taking maternity leave. William is enjoying meeting all the local operators and is based in the Toi-EDA building in Quay St Ph 07 307 2050 More...

22 Dec 2009 - Chairman's message

As we come to the end of 2009 it is timely to review the year and look ahead to next year. There is no doubt that as a region and as a country things are looking better than the same time last year.

The last twelve months have seen a roller-coaster ride for the economy of the Eastern Bay of Plenty. But we are officially out of recession and some sectors of the economy are showing cautious signs of recovery. More...

20 Dec 2009 - Eastern Bay of Plenty performs better than the country as a whole over the last year

The Eastern Bay of Plenty has performed better than the full Bay of Plenty region over the past year over a number of economic indicators including new building activity, commercial visitor nights and unemployment benefit numbers. However in comparison to last year new building consents are down 24%, motor vehicle registrations have fallen, the number of businesses in the area has dropped by 8%. More...

18 Dec 2009 - Proposed Whakatane Coastal cycleway could become part of the NZ cycleway project.

Toi-EDA has worked with Whakatane District Council to prepare an application for feasibility funding from the NZ cycleway project. Toi-EDA Manager Mary Hermanson believes the 48 km coastal cycleway has the "wow" factor that the NZ cycleway project is looking for to showcase some of NZ's best scenery. More...

15 Dec 2009 - Opotiki College "All Around Aoteroa" YES Team takes out top award

At a glittering awards dinner in Wellington Opotiki College "All Around Aoteroa" Young Enterprise Team took out the top award "Young Enterprise Company of the Year".

Opotiki College the winners of the Eastern Bay of Plenty regional final joined 21 teams from around New Zealand who had all won through from their regional finals out of 650 teams. More...

12 Dec 2009 - The best of Eastern Bay of Plenty showcased at Rotorua Airport

A 30 metre display on what to see and do in Eastern Bay of Plenty is now being viewed by the 4000 visitors each week arriving at Rotorua airport. Three quarters of the passengers to Rotorua are leisure travellers so this makes it an exciting opportunity for EBOP tourism industry. The colourful display designed by Greg Scott of Ohope showcases White Island, and water and land based activities around Whakatane and Opotiki. More...

10 Dec 2009 - Event marketing paying off

Several years of national promotion of events such as Toi's Challenge are showing really good results. Events Manager Mike van der Boom said "Toi-EDA has been marketing this event in specialist magazines and websites and results this year exceeded expectations. Numbers in the event in November were up by 26% to 394 and people coming from outside the district to take part in the event have gone up from 31% to 53%. More...

16 Oct 2009 - Economic Development Adviser for Toi-EDA

Toi-EDA has engaged the services of John Galbraith as economic development adviser on a part time basis. Toi-EDA manager Mary Hermanson said she was delighted to have John Galbraith as a member of the Toi-EDA team and he brought a wealth of experience to the organisation. More...

15 Oct 2009 - Everything you need to know about moving to Eastern Bay of Plenty

A new website www.liveintheeasternbay.co.nz is due to go live in the next couple of weeks. The website developed by Toi EDA’s Marketing Manager Nicola Burgess is targeted at possible New Zealand movers or overseas immigrants to the region. It will have jobs, regional skills shortages, real estate opportunities, business opportunities as well as lifestyle information. More...

14 Oct 2009 - Record numbers attend the Beacon Business and Leisure Show

Approximately 7,000 people attended the 2009 Beacon Business and Leisure Show held over three days in early September. Fine weather brought out the crowds many of whom were from outside the region. More...

13 Oct 2009 - Eastern Bay of Plenty Food and Beverage Cluster meets

Toi-EDA hosted the first meeting of the EBOP Food and Beverage businesses recently. An excellent turnout of businesses enjoyed the chance to meet with other small “foodie” businesses. Mary Hermanson ran a workshop looking at the advantages and barriers to forming a cluster and what the participants wanted their sector to be in ten years time. More...

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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - '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 - 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 - 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 - 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...

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...