Cities Focus For Business and Economy

When you arrive in Hawke’s Bay – just a one hour flight from Auckland – you take a short drive from the airport to Hastings or Napier and quickly realise they are the business hubs for the Hawke’s Bay region. You fly in over a patchwork of fields, each growing something special. Sheep and cattle may be grazing in green paddocks, and you will see the changing colours of fruit and vegetable crops at different stages of growth. As you near the city you will see clusters of processing plants that turn the bounty of the land into value-added goods for export. Hastings has built a strong economy around its primary production. Industries have taken advantage of the region’s fertile plains, pleasant climate, clean water supplies and fresh, clean air. Its twin city of Napier is an attractive seaside city. It has grown up around Napier Port and is renowned for its Art Deco architecture. You will hear about horticultural and agricultural cropping, fruit and vegetable processing, pastoral farming and forestry. But new and diverse businesses are growing up around these traditional strengths. There is a robust environment of innovation, research and development, and creativity. Examples include the development of new apple varieties, world-class sheep breeding genetic research, design and manufacture of automated, robotic technologies and active voltage conditioning technology to guard against voltage sags. Not only do great things grow in this part of the world, the scenery is breath-taking. You quickly understand why tourism is another important growth industry. For all these reasons, Hawke’s Bay has excellent growth and investment potential. It is also lucky be located in an area of very low hazard risk. This gives certainty to business continuity and reliability. The economy is strengthening, commercial building activity is surging and businesses are optimistic about the future. The growth in commerce means a network of professional services is clustered in the region.