It's a gritty honest town that services a rich agricultural surrounding area local and port.
Timaru has always been a good motel area and seems to have held up well in tough times compared to the rest of the country.
For the year ending October 2009 motel occupancy rates in Timaru have declined by only 2.9% compared to the rest of the country's motels that endured a decline of 7.2%.
We were interested to read that longstanding iconic Timaru motelier and past Motel Association of New Zealand national President, Maree Winter has been quoted in the Timaru Herald. She gives us a snapshot of the local motel industry:
South Canterbury Motel Association president Maree Winter said although the recession had hit motel owners, Timaru had not been as bad as some regions in the country.Source: Click HERE
"Timaru is not a saturated market such as Rotorua or Queenstown, so we have been fortunate to weather most of the storms.
"However, it appears that domestic tourism – and tourism from our Australian neighbours – has gone up over the last year. People are still wanting to have a holiday, but can't necessarily afford to go overseas."
Mrs Winter said many motel owners in New Zealand had struggled as their expenses had gone up throughout the year.
However, she said Timaru was looking good for the immediate post-New Year period, as there were several sporting events coming to the region.
"We have the car races, athletics and yachting. Some of these clash, but it should mean that we will get quite a few people coming through."
