Govt pondering extra holidays for tourism

The Government is giving ‘‘active consideration’’ to additional holidays to allow Kiwis to visit tourism operations in New Zealand.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that was one idea being considered to provide an economic boost to the country’s embattled tourism sector. She made the comment during a visit to Rotorua’s Te Puia yesterday.

Asked whether, in the wake of Easter and Anzac Day falling within the earlier lockdown periods, additional holiday time was being considered, Ardern said the Government was thinking of ideas ‘‘to encourage New Zealanders to come and see their own backyards’’.

‘‘Those are things we’re giving active consideration to.’’

Her remarks were welcomed by Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief Chris Roberts.

‘‘There’s agreement we need to support domestic tourism, it’s all we have for the time being and we need to be as imaginative as possible, more than a glitzy marketing campaign,’’ he said.

Roberts said domestic tourism had two main drivers; big events and time off.

‘‘And for now we can’t have events. We’ve plenty of evidence that long weekends lead to significant boosts in spending.’’

He said a long gap existed between Queen’s Birthday Weekend and Labour Day, and that some type of additional long weekend could be offered as a ‘‘reward’’ to the nation for the successes in combating the Covid-19 pandemic.

He acknowledged, however, that additional time off work could attract pushback from other sectors also trying to recover from the lockdown.

‘‘We would expect the Government to balance these factors up,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s not cut and dried, we obviously know it would be appealing to the tourism industry . . . It’s good the Government is open to the idea.’’

Ardern was joined by Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis and Minister for Ma¯ ori Development Nanaia Mahuta for a tour of the Ma¯ori Arts and Crafts Institute in the wake of an announcement of a $7.6m funding injection for the venture.

‘‘We’ve opened up for New Zealanders to see their own backyards and I encourage them to do that,’’ Ardern said.

She said the Government had set aside $400m for the wider tourism sector, though she acknowledged some ‘‘large-scale tourism operations may for a period of time have to go into hibernation’’.

‘‘We want to work alongside the industry to identify a path forward as a whole.’’ Ardern said work was under way on the trans-Tasman ‘‘bubble’’, but could give no timelines. ‘‘Our plan has to be for the New Zealand tourism industry and see that open up again.’’

Ardern said the $400m set aside for the tourism sector ‘‘has within it a plan for the Government to work alongside the tourism industry’’.

Davis, however, acknowledged the importance of some strategic tourism operations.

‘‘If they were to fail that would have a wider impact on the region. We want to design solutions tailored to their needs.’’

Mahuta also said that Maori tourism ventures would play a key role in any economic recovery for the wider sector.

‘‘The unique offerings and the network of offerings can continue to build advantage in New Zealand, the way we tell our story, the hospitality, the destinations we have.’’