Tourism development in Rotorua has caused both concentration and dispersal of attractions and services. Primary attractions like geothermal areas and lakes are naturally dispersed throughout the area. However, the government deliberately clustered some attractions in the central business district early on. Secondary attractions have concentrated in clusters near major roads leading from source markets. Accommodation, services, and transportation are mostly concentrated in the central city, though some resorts and camps are farther from the center for land costs and proximity to primary attractions. The road network provides radial access from source cities.

1. How has tourism development caused concentration and dispersal?
How has tourism development caused spatial patterns in the Rotorua area?
When the tourism elements interact they cause the level of tourism in a place grow in
scale and complexity. In Rotorua there has been concentration of some elements and
dispersal of others.
Rotoruaʼs primary attractions are dispersed throughout the area. This is because many of
these primary attractions are natural - lakes and geothermal areas, and so have been
created by natural processes. People have had no influence over their location. Some are
near the city centre, e.g. Lake Rotorua and Whakarewarewa geothermal valley, while
others are more than 10km away, such as, Lake Rotoiti and Hells Gate.
There are some primary attractions that are concentrated however. The Government
Gardens in the central business district (CBD) contains the Bath House, Blue Baths and
the Polynesian Spa. The government deliberately developed this cluster of attractions in
the early 1900s to give its planned resort town a focal point for tourism. A concentration
has also been developed at the Whakarewarewa thermal area with the geothermal activity
(including Pohutu Geyser) , as well as the cultural primary attractions of Rotowhio Marae
and the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute.
There is a clustered concentration of secondary attractions in the rural-urban fringe near
State Highway 5. The tourism industry has developed secondary attractions to take
advantage of the high number of tourists arriving from Auckland and the Waikato, to make
it easier to visit more than one attraction, to capitalise on the tourist demand for nearby
primary attractions and also because the generally becomes cheaper with increasing
distance from the CBD. There are two main locations north of the city centre where
tourism development has been focussed on secondary attractions: a cluster has formed
adjacent to the Agrodome (Bungy-Jumping, Swoop, Zorb, Agrojet etc) and a cluster
around Skyline Skyrides (Rainbow Springs, Caterpillar centre, Mitai Cultural Experience).
A cluster of flight based attractions (scenic flights, skydiving, helicopter rides) have
developed adjacent to the Rotorua Airport.
The process of tourism development has focussed accommodation, transport and retail
services in the city centre. Most souvenior shops, booking offices and restaurants are
located in the central city as this is the most accessible part of the city for both tourists and
residents, and therfore attracts the greatest spending potential. Fenton Street was
constructed as a direct link from the Government Gardens area to Whakarewarewa
thermal valley, so much of the original accommodation was located here to provide
accessibility to these primary attractions. During the 1950s and 60s development of motels
here was encouraged by regulators to cater for the rapid increase in both domestic and
international tourists. Today landuse along the length along the length of Fenton Street is
dominated by accommodation forming a linear pattern.
Some facilities and infrastructure are dispersed. Accommodation such as resorts and
holiday parks are located away from the city centre to locate close to primary attractions
(e.g. the Duxton Resort on the shores of Lake Rotoiti or the Regal Geyserland overlooking
Pohutu Geyser), or for larger/cheaper plots of land, eg Holdens Bay Holiday Park 10km
from the city centre on the rural-urban fringe.

2. The road network on the regional scale forms a radial pattern allowing efficient
accessibility from major source markets i.e. Auckland/Hamilton, Tauranga, Taupo.