Industry waits on impact of virus

Tourism industry leaders in Marlborough are hopeful the coronavirus outbreak won’t have a substantial impact on the market.

Destination Marlborough general manager Jacqui Lloyd said the ‘‘biggest crunch’’ to tourism at present was that China had put overseas tour travel on hold.

The virus was first identified in the Chinese province of Wuhan.

As of yesterday morning there were 6165 confirmed cases and 133 deaths, mainly in China. The virus had been detected in other countries including Australia, Thailand and the United States.

This week, Tourism New Zealand chief executive Stephen England-hall said only time would reveal the full impact of the Chinese Government’s decision to suspend all overseas tour group travel to prevent spread of the disease over Chinese New Year.

England-hall said the ban also affected independent travellers who had booked flight and accommodation packages but not those who had made their own online bookings.

‘‘About 90 per cent of travellers this time last year from China would have come through a [Chinese] tourism bureau and been impacted through this ban, so it has the potential to have a significant impact on our industry and economy.’’

However, Lloyd said while it was still quite early to tell, she was hopeful Marlborough tourism would not be hit as hard as places such as Queenstown and Rotorua – as the region did not have a lot of China group-tour business.

‘‘Our key markets are Australia,

the UK, US, Europe and Germany,’’ Lloyd said.

‘‘So China, while it is a small part of our market, it tends to be the free independent travellers that are coming through Marlborough, rather than the group tour market,’’ she said.

‘‘But certainly, if I could be so bold as to say, we are in a somewhat more positive position, because our tour industry is not focused on large groups.

‘‘We’re a second time visitor – as a Chinese visitor you would come here [New Zealand] once and then you would come back to spend more time, and that’s when you would come back to a region like Marlborough,’’ she said.

Omaka Heritage Aviation Centre marketing manager Rachael Brown agreed, saying a lot of the Chinese tourists they saw were free, independent travellers.

‘‘We don’t have a lot of Chinese tourists, it’s a very small market for us, we don’t get large groups through,’’ Brown said.

Encounter Kaiko¯ ura business manager Lynette Buurman said they had experienced some cancellations, but it was only a small element of their business.

‘‘It’s a small origin for us, and we’re dealing with people’s wellbeing here, so it’s honestly really minimal.’’

The Cruise Lines International Association said it was monitoring developments closely and advised travellers to check with public health authorities at their destinations and exercise appropriate precautions.

The Marlborough cruise ship season was about half way through, with the Ovation of the Seas the last ship expected to arrive in Picton on April 23.

Lloyd said the cruise market was generally made up of Australians and Americans.