Interest in transtasman bubble idea growing

THE idea of creating a joint New ZealandAustralia ‘‘bubble’’ to help the tourism industry back on to its feet appears to be gaining momentum.

NZSki boss Paul Anderson said yesterday a group of business leaders raised the idea with Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis and Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford at a meeting in Queenstown on March 19.

‘‘I raised the point that . . . a common border with Australia would be critical to our recovery.

‘‘I suggested to them that if we could get that part of our tourism market operating quickly, it would provide us with a bit of continuity.’’

The ministers ‘‘scribbled it down and nodded’’ and while Mr Anderson had heard nothing since, he ‘‘trusted it would get fed back’’ into Government decisions.

Leading business commentator Bryan Gaynor, in a BusinessDesk article last week, picked up on the idea, suggesting the two countries join in a ‘‘postlockdown bubble’’ once the virus was under control on both sides of the Tasman.

And, on Monday Auckland International Airport chief executive Adrian Littlewood told the NZ Herald the New Zealand and Australian Governments should start planning now for a transtasman travel ‘‘bubble’’.

The Herald also reported Mr Littlewood’s comments coincided with the Australian federal tourism minister, Simon Birmingham, predicting Australia’s ban on international travel was likely to continue until the end of the year, but with potential to ease restrictions on travel within Australia and that there ‘‘might be a little bit to New Zealand’’.

Mr Anderson said the ski industry was still waiting for

Government decisions on alert levels.

It would be ‘‘impossible’’ for skifields to operate under the current Level 4 and improbable under Level 3.

He believed they could operate under Level 2 but even in a ‘‘bestcase scenario’’ skier numbers were expected to be down by at least twothirds.