Chinese tourists among the thousands supporting the Bluff Oyster and Food Festival

Thursday, 23 May 2019

Chinese interest in the Bluff Oyster and Food Festival keeps growing yearly.

Bluff Oyster and Food Festival committee member Kylie Fowler at the event's venue this week.

Festival official Kylie Fowler has fielded numerous inquiries about the event from Chinese travel agents, and this year arranged the sale of 60 tickets to Chinese tour groups for Saturday's festival.

About 4500 people are expected at the event and ticket sold out in advance in February.

* Thousands attend the annual Bluff Oyster and Food Festival

Barnes Wild Bluff Oysters general manager Graeme Wright is a big fan of oysters.

* Big crowds and tight squeezes at the 2016 Bluff Oyster and Food Festival

* Bluff Oyster & Food Festival attracts motor homes

* Auks fly south for Bluff Oyster & Food Festival**

Festival goers usually consumed a total of more than 20,000 oysters on the day and again good supplies of the delicacy awaited the weekend's crowd, Fowler said.

'The [oyster] boats will be out on Saturday morning [weather permitting] … in some years, oysters have come straight from the boats to the festival.'

Visitors coming from the North Island will include a plane load of 170 arriving from Auckland on Friday and staying to Monday. The same number of passengers, on a plane from Wellington, were making a day trip, Fowler said.

Pukekohe Travel has organised a group of 50 from different parts of Auckland to attend.

One of the company's travel consultants, Kim Morrow, said little marketing was needed to fill the 50 places.

'This is our third or fourth year taking a group down … it's definitely very popular,' she said.

The 50 Aucklanders are staying at the Kelvin Hotel, which is full on Friday and Saturday nights.

The hotel's general manager, Aaron Mills, thought most of the guests would be heading to the festival and expected a lot of them to book rooms for the 2020 event before leaving.

'A lot of people love this festival and they come down just for it,' Mills said.

Fowler understands about 20 buses could be operating between the festival and Invercargill on Saturday.

'We keep the whole day simply [for people]

'It truly defines grass roots entertainment … we don't have corporate or VIP areas and we're not into celebrity chefs. We put on music and the facility.'

About 20 food or drink stalls will be operating when the entry areas open at 10.30am on Saturday.

Bluff had held a food festival for more than 30 years but its content and profile had been ramped up since 2008, Fowler said.

'The main thing I notice now is that people are staying longer [at the festival] and not in [briefly] and out again.

'It's a very relaxed environment and people rave about it afterwards.'