13/08/2026
Congratulations Rotorua Trails Trust!! Finalists for the Tompkins Wake Rotorua Business Awards!!
Best of luck!
Well, this is pretty special 💚🌲
The Rotorua Trails Trust has been named a finalist in the 35th Tompkins Wake Rotorua Business Awards, in the Rotorua Lakes Council Outstanding Contribution to Rotorua category.
And of all the categories, this one means a lot.
We spend a lot of time talking about trails. Building them, maintaining them, repairing them, advocating for them and figuring out how we’re going to fund them.
But the impact of Rotorua’s trail network reaches a long way beyond the forest.
A RotoruaNZ study into the contribution of mountain biking found that visitors who mountain biked while in Rotorua contributed an estimated $139.8 million in local spending in 2021. Of that, $103.4 million came from people whose primary reason for visiting Rotorua was to ride.
Those visitors stayed longer too, an average of 4.1 nights, compared with 2.6 nights across Rotorua visitors overall, with their spending estimated to support more than 1,150 jobs.
Those are big numbers. But the contribution of our trails to Rotorua isn’t only measured in dollars.
They’re where locals ride, run and walk. They’re where kids learn to ride bikes. They bring events, athletes and visitors from around the world to our city. They support businesses, create jobs and give people another reason to call Rotorua home.
And they’ve become part of Rotorua’s identity.
The Rotorua Trails Trust is only one part of that story. Our work is possible because of the volunteers who show up, businesses and funders who back us, trail builders and contractors who do the mahi, our partners who work alongside us, and the community that continues to value and support these trails.
So to be recognised for our contribution to Rotorua feels particularly special.
We’re proud to be finalists alongside Kōtihi Reo Consultants and the Rotorua Sustainable Charter, two organisations making their own significant contribution to our city.
The Trust might be the name on the finalist list, but this recognition belongs to a much bigger community.
Pretty bloody proud of this one. 💚
📸 Rachel Hadfield
