Numbers, profits dip at Auckland's Rainbow's End

New Zealand Experience, operator of the Rainbow's End theme park, have said that their profits in first-half of the year have fallen by about 25%.
The theme park operator blames unfavourable weather and the lure of the Rugby World Cup as having dented visitor numbers to New Zealand's largest theme park.
Profit fell to about $750,000 in the six months ending 31st December, from $1.01 million in the same period a year earlier, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The company plans to release details of its first-half results on 23rd February.
Visitors to the south Auckland theme park totalled 154,500 in the first half, down from 168,000 visitors in the same six months a year earlier. Much of the decline was in the month of December, typically a peak for visitors. The company added that pre-Christmas private functions at the park were down from the strong December 2010 levels.
NZ Experience expects to recover some of the shortfall in first-half profitability during the remainder of the year, thanks to more favourable weather, maintenance of higher spend per visitor, more function activity and other initiatives.