Central Chch i-SITE to shut

Central Christchurch’s i-SITE visitor information and booking centre at the Arts Centre will shut, probably permanently, because of the Covid crisis.

The closure will see nine or 10 staff lose their jobs, according to promotional and economic development agency ChristchurchNZ, which runs the i-SITE.

Eighty per cent of the country’s 75 centres have reopened since the end of the Covid lockdown, despite the dearth of overseas tourists.

Another three will stay closed until spring. Seven, including the central Christchurch outlet, will close permanently by June 30, and the fate of four is undecided.

The i-SITEs are part of a network is run by Tourism New Zealand.

Most are privately owned and operated, and about a third are owned by regional tourist organisations. Most receive local government funding in addition to income from bookings and retail sales.

Boyd Warren, commercial general manager at ChristchurchNZ, said the i-SITE’s major decline in revenue ‘‘looks set to continue indefinitely’’ and it would be ‘‘mothballed for the foreseeable future’’.

Warren said the centre had been subsidised even before the lockdown, and Government tourism money could not be used to support it.

He said most paying customers came from long-haul destinations, and domestic travellers mostly booked directly with operators.

‘‘Any potential reopening would require a return of significant market demand, and we will continue to assess this situation.’’

At the time the i-Site leased space in the Arts Centre in 2016, it was reporting 250,000 visitors a year.

The greater Christchurch area still has i-SITES at Christchurch Airport, Akaroa and Kaiapoi.