Foxton man Michael Muaguitutia has taken out Manawatu's New Zealand Certified Builders (NZCB) Apprentice Challenge.As the regional winner, Michael takes home a Makita power tool, ITM-branded merchandise, and will represent Manawatu at the final, to be held in Rotorua later this month.  Michael, 21, was born in Auckland, but at the age of 17 moved to Foxton to live with his uncle and pursue a rugby career. Not long after moving, Michael landed a building apprenticeship with Caldow Builders, and hasn't looked back.

Westpac New Zealand will become naming partner for the Westpac Champion Business Awards 2018, Leeann Watson, CEO of the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce announced today.

A small town carries some vital lessons for others facing challenges in New Zealand’s regions, write Alex Penk and Julian Wood of the Maxim Institute in Newsroom

A new aquatic centre, upgrades to stormwater systems and the estuarine environment, and the possibility of providing dechlorinated water stations are three of the projects to be considered under Napier City Council’s 2018-2028 Long Term Plan (LTP).

No “conversation” on this occasion--- Heavy Engineering is immediate casualty

Consultation for Napier’s Long Term Plan 2018-2028 is about to begin. Napier City Council formally adopted the Consultation Document and supporting documents to the Long Term Plan 2018-2028 (LTP) at its extraordinary meeting held today at the Napier Conference Centre in the Napier War Memorial Centre.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s monumental 19% rate hike is simply not necessary, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Mar 29,  2018  -   The latest Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) today show that tourism expenditure grew in all regions over the year ending February 2018.

MBIE’s manager of Sector Trends Mark Gordon says that there has been positive performance in several regions around the country.“The regions with the fastest growing tourism spend over the year ending February 2018 were the West Coast, which increased 12 per cent to $548 million, followed by Tasman, which increased 11 per cent to $317 million and Taranaki, up 11 per cent to $380 million,” Mr Gordon says.Chinese New Year fell in mid-February this year (rather than late January, as it was in 2017), contributing to high monthly growth rates compared with February 2017. Spending for this market followed the pattern of previous years, concentrated in Auckland, Otago and Canterbury with the percentage change from February 2017 for the Chinese market in these areas at 25 per cent, 88 per cent, and 80 per cent respectively.“Tourism spending in Kaikōura has also continued to recover, with tourism spending in the month of February 2018 almost double than in February 2017 and annual growth almost back to a positive figure,” Mr Gordon says.Mr Gordon says MBIE developed the Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates in consultation with tourism industry representatives to create a better measurement of the value of tourism in the regions.“Tourism spending information for the regions helps inform investment and planning in the tourism industry by providing insight into where both domestic and international tourists are spending their money,” Mr Gordon says.MBIE has also today released new Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO) fact sheets. The factsheets were developed in consultation with Regional Tourism Organisations New Zealand (RTONZ) and the wider tourism industry. These factsheets provide a regional summary of tourism spend and accommodation statistics by RTO using publically available data from the Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates and Accommodation Survey. They will be updated following each release, and are available here.A user guide providing information on how the estimates are calculated and how they should be interpreted is available here.View the full statistics from the Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates.

| A MBIE release  |  ||  march 29, 2018   |||

This infographic presents summaries of GDP by New Zealand region in 2017.

The Manawatu Gorge replacement has finally been confirmed, providing relief and certainty for a region in wait, but it will be a long six years before businesses most affected will reap the benefits.