Hope for Aussie tourist bonus

The possibility of a trans-Tasman bubble would be ‘‘very, very helpful’’ for South Island tourist operators and potentially ‘‘massive’’ for its skifields, say business leaders.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed the Government planned to set up some sort of ‘‘trans-Tasman bubble’’ that would allow travel between Australia and New Zealand as both countries beat back Covid-19.

But she cautioned such a bubble would not suddenly spring up in a couple of weeks’ time.

There would be a lot of work to do to make such an arrangement safe.

Ardern is dialling into Australia’s national cabinet meeting today, a meeting of Australia’s prime minister and the various state premiers. ‘‘The meeting will discuss many aspects of the

Covid-response on both sides of the Tasman including the transTasman bubble,’’ Ardern said at her post-Cabinet press conference yesterday.

‘‘Our countries’ strong records in fighting the virus has put in the enviable position of being able to plan the next stage in our economic rebuild. This will include trans-Tasman travel in our strategy.’’

These plans hadn’t solidified into a single Cabinet paper or been discussed as a Cabinet item yet however.

Ardern confirmed that such a bubble would not just allow Australians and New Zealanders to travel between countries, but to do so without mandatory quarantining.

Loren Heaphy, ChristchurchNZ general manager of destination and attraction, said Australians spent $287 million in Canterbury in the year to January this year, making them the largest contributor to international spend in the region.

Overseas visitors spent a total of $3 billion in Canterbury last

year, accounting for 16 per cent of the economy.

A trans-Tasman bubble would help alleviate the ‘‘huge impact of Covid-19’’ on this industry.

And operational by winter ‘‘Australian visitors would support a strong ski season’’ allowing a partial recovery for some businesses that lost revenue during the summer peak.

NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson said opening the borders to Australia would be ‘‘massive’’ for ski resorts such as Queenstown.

NZSki owns the Coronet Peak and Remarkables skifields in Queenstown, and Mt Hutt at Methven in Mid Canterbury.

Anderson said Australians made up about 40 per cent of customers at their Queenstown fields, and 10 per cent at Mt

Hutt. Most of the rest are New Zealanders. ‘‘For Queenstown especially, it would be a huge bonus. Not just for us, but for the community. The Australian tourists stay in hotels, and spend a lot of money in restaurants and bars.’’

Leeann Watson, chief executive of the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce, said the region’s tourism sector was ‘‘incredibly challenged’’ and needed some certainty about the future.

‘‘If we can get domestic tourism starting again, and some trans-Tasman travel and tourism, that would be very, very helpful to the tourism sector.

‘‘It’s so hard for the industry to even look at a strategy going forward when we’ve got no certainty.’’

However, Ardern yesterday warned Kiwis shouldn’t expect for the border to open ‘‘in the very very near short term’’ as health remained the predominant concern.

‘‘From the conversations we’ve had to date, we have a very similar perspective of the kind of timeline we will want to run to. In our minds the health of our people is incredibly important.

‘‘In New Zealand we don’t want to give away the gains that we’ve had, and Australia doesn’t want to introduce any risk either,’’ Ardern said.

‘‘Don’t expect this to happen in a couple of weeks time.

‘‘As you can imagine we need to make sure we are locking in the gains that all New Zealanders have helped us achieve, and make sure we have health precautions in place to make sure we do this safely, and well,’’ Ardern said.

Ardern would not respond directly when asked if the transTasman bubble could be ready in time for the ski season.

‘‘‘Don’t expect this to happen in a couple of weeks time. ’’

PM Jacinda Ardern