Mount Maunganui's latest summer asset is set for some heavy foot traffic in the coming months with the Pilot Bay boardwalk receiving an official blessing this morning.

About 35 people, including Tauranga City Council, Ngai Te Rangi iwi and Port of Tauranga staff, braved cold and breezy conditions to bless the boardwalk and unveil a rock and plaque at this morning's dawn service near Salisbury Wharf.

Ngai Te Rangi iwi bless the rock and plaque at the Pilot Bay boardwalk this morning.

Construction on the $364,594 boardwalk began in July after TCC decided to construct the path on the back of growing concern for the grassed area not coping with daily foot traffic.

At the blessing, Tauranga City Mayor Stuart Crosby says the boardwalk will be a popular asset during summer, especially with the start of the cruise ship season tomorrow.

'I think it will be great, but we need to remember it was an environmental process to protect the foreshore and really just manage people better than in the past, and it will work out incredibly well.

'We have got a couple of hundred thousand visitors through the cruise ship industry and I'm sure they will enjoy it as well.”

Stuart admits the boardwalk, as with any other council project, has its detractors, but he hopes they will see the positives of what he hints could be the start of future boardwalk constructions throughout the city.

'We have a strategy to develop a walkway and cycleway all the way from the Kaituna River down through the coastal strip, across Matapihi through to the Matua wetlands, which are in place and Carmichael Reserve which are in place, and ultimately the Wairoa River.

'Walking is really popular at the moment. It's good, it's healthy and it's good access to our natural environment.”

To celebrate the boardwalk's completion, which coincides with the first cruise ship visit of the 2013/14 season tomorrow, Mainstreet Mount Maunganui and Tauranga City Council are holding a family picnic event at Pilot Bay tomorrow evening.

Families are invited to grab some takeaways or pack a picnic and enjoy free entertainment from 5pm-6.30pm. They can also farewell the first cruise ship, the Sea Princess, at 7.30pm.

'We just have some low key entertainment including buskers and the ukulele ladies who won last year's busking festival. There will be face painting and a couple of clowns for the kids,” says Mainstreet manager Leanne Brown.

With the MetService predicting rain easing to a few showers tomorrow, a call will be made at midday whether the entertainment will still be going ahead, says Leanne.

For further information check Mount Mainstreets website and its Facebook page.