Visa cuts worry tourism industry
The tourism industry is mostly relaxed about the change of government, but remains nervous about any cuts in temporary migrant labour and will continue to push for more infrastructure funding.
It also wants to see the tourism ministerial portfolio retain a high profile by being allocated to a frontbench MP.
Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) chairman Grant Webster said the industry group had positive relationships with all political parties.
He also said there was ‘‘pretty strong alignment’’ between his organisation’s wish list and what the Labour Party and NZ First had proposed.
TIA’s pre-election manifesto pushed for better protection of the environment, plus more funding for tourism infrastructure and the Department of Conservation. It also lobbied to retain access to temporary migrant workers.
Queenstown mayor Jim Boult said any reduction in migrant labour would cause big problems.
‘‘Our town would not exist without the temporary migrant labour we currently have. There’s no unemployment in Queenstown and we simply cannot get enough people to fill all the available jobs, so we’d hope some common sense comes into that discussion.’’
Funding for infrastructure to cope with the continuing rise in international visitor numbers is still a hot-button issue. Visitor numbers are predicted to hit 5 million by 2023.
Labour promised $75 million for tourism infrastructure, training, and environmental protection to enhance visitor experiences, financed by a levy of $25 a head on international arrivals.
NZ First leader Winston Peters suggested returning GST from visitor spending to the regions where it was spent, which amounts to more than $1.1 billion annually across the country.
Regional Tourism Organisations New Zealand chairman Graham Budd is unsure that GST redistribution is the way to go because it could open the way for other sectors wanting a similar deal to tourism.
‘‘But if it’s part of the solution to getting funding out into the regions that desperately need it, it will be interesting to see how that’s done.’’
Webster said Peters’ idea would not necessarily have the desired effect because it would channel the majority of funding to Auckland and Queenstown, when smaller places needed it too.
National’s budget included a $100m tourism infrastructure fund to be spread over four years. That policy proved a major disappointment to the industry, which had been seeking that amount annually.
The first funding round, which opened just before the election, attracted $35m worth of applications and Webster said he hoped the incoming government would meet the commitments made by its predecessor.
‘‘We still believe that [$100m] figure is appropriate to really get tourism infrastructure sorted for the sort of growth we can achieve for the betterment of the country.’’
Queenstown is hoping for a substantial contribution from the Government to pay for major work on roading, bridges, water supply and sewage systems, and public transport.
Boult expects a firm proposal to be ready by the end of November and he is still promoting a bed tax to help cover the resort town’s costs.
There is also interest in the new Government’s approach to freedom camping, given that National cannot deliver a promised clampdown that would have forced vehicles that were not self-contained to camp within 200 metres of a toilet. National’s approach also would have allowed wider camping bans on Crown-owned land.
Boult said he wanted Labour to get even tougher so that vehicles without proper toilet facilities had to stay in recognised camping grounds.