Tourism lolly scramble begins

More than 60 tourism business have put their hands up for Government funding to help save some of the country’s star visitor attractions.

Applications for the strategic assets protection programme close today, and Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis said that on top of the 60-plus already lodged, there have been more than 700 downloads of the application form.

‘‘So they’re expecting a bit of a last-minute flurry.’’

Competition for the money is likely to be stiff, with more than 20 applications from Rotorua alone.

Davis has suggested that 50 to 60 businesses could benefit from the programme as part of the Government’s $400 million tourism rescue package, but he said the final count depended on how many were eligible for funding and what they asked for.

To be considered a strategic asset, a business had to be a nationally or internationally recognised attraction that brought significant numbers of visitors to a region, with big spill-over benefits to the area that would reduce considerably if it closed.

Davis said some regions might have several attractions worthy of assistance.

‘‘I can imagine in a place like Queenstown there would be numerous operators that could be considered strategic, and it would be silly to support just one and go to another area where there’s very little tourism and support a business just for the sake of it.’’

Davis said businesses receiving grants or low interest loans through the scheme would have to meet certain conditions and make quarterly declarations about how the money was spent.

Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts said the programme was about picking businesses that were too important to fail.

‘‘There are merits with that approach, but there are also risks in terms of how those decisions will be viewed by the rest of the industry.’’

The Tourism Ministers Recovery Group will decide by late July who will get funding for up to two years.

Davis said the ‘‘vast majority’’ of the $400m rescue package would be spent on retaining strategic assets, with $20m going to regional tourism organisations and $10m to Ma¯ori tourism.

International tourists usually cater for 80 per cent of the Whale Watch market, and the business was among the first to benefit from a Government scheme to protect important tourism attractions. It received $1.5 million.