Independent views By Brendan Horan

It would be great to think that all visitors to Tauranga and the Mount are welcomed with manaakitanga – hospitality (broadly speaking). It is good to be good hosts, it is friendly, and economically our visitors are worth more than $416 million to us every year.

But sadly it is not always so.

We opened our office early this year and have been rather embarrassed for two sets of visiting holidaymakers, who called in to complain that they had received parking offence notices. Their holiday had been spoiled by overzealous parking wardens. Though not an MP's business, as a local I was disturbed. One visitor had received a ticket at 2.30 on a Sunday afternoon while at the beach; and the other received one early on a Saturday morning, at 9.15 am, in Tauranga where they reported they were surrounded by empty spaces.

The first visitor had been ticketed twice, with their first parking ticket being at the Main Beach during the Bay of Plenty junior surf life saving champs. These surf life saving parents frequent cafes throughout the day, while their children compete and improve on their surf life saving skills. Is it fair to impose $40 fines on these community volunteers – or for that matter any visitors who come to enjoy the beach on the weekend?

It can hardly be our visitors' fault that the city is not providing enough parking spaces and public transport alternatives to cater for the holiday demand – and, frankly do we really need wardens working Sundays targeting big beach events? Secondly, do we really want parking meters downtown? They have killed the retail sector and locals avoid the area.

Some locals think this time of the year is the silly season. I think a little differently and see it as an opportunity to share briefly with others, less fortunate to live here, the wonders of our city and the region's lifestyle. I would like to think visitors leave our city with happy memories of smiling happy locals, who respect the influx of visitors at this time of the year as a special treat.