Tourism to get $11m boost from the Govt
The Government will invest $11 million into a tourism package to support the sector, following the impact of coronavirus, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced.
The initial boost was an acknowledgment of the ‘‘crucial role’’ China played in the industry, she said.
‘‘We hope this short-term investment will help alleviate some of the pressures the sector is feeling post the border closure with China.’’
Tourism New Zealand would get $10m to diversify its marketing portfolio in other countries, to offset the fall in Chinese traffic, in order to stimulate the economy, she said.
The remainder would go towards funding for domestic marketing by regional tourism organisations, which were often neglected, she said.
The Government has also asked Tourism New Zealand to undertake further work to rebuild the Chinese visitor market and New Zealand’s hosting capabilities.
Yesterday Cabinet also discussed the updated treasury advice on the economic impact of the virus, she said.
It was too early to know what the overall impact could be on New Zealand’s economy but advice was it could have a negative but temporary impact on GDP.
Treasury expected economic activity to return to normal in the second half of 2020, she said.
‘‘GDP growth is expected to be around 2 per cent – 2.5 per cent in 2020.’’
The effects would span the primary, education and tourism sectors, she said.
Forestry Minister Shane Jones would also bring a paper to a cabinet committee this week to look at potential initiatives for the logging sector, she said.
Meanwhile, Kiwis trapped on board a cruise ship off the coast of Japan could be evacuated if Australia launched a rescue flight.
But Australia was still working through any potential plan, she said.
The Diamond Princess cruise ship’s crew and 3700 passengers were placed in quarantine on February 4 and the number on board infected has risen to 355.
At least 11 New Zealanders remain in quarantine on board the cruise ship in Yokohama and two others have been hospitalised after contracting the virus.
That quarantine was coming to an end but the virus had continued to spread, so there was a question mark over whether the ship quarantine had been successful, she said.
There were now questions about whether there needed to be additional quarantine in New Zealand for those individuals.
‘‘At the moment we have officials working through the best way to manage that . . . they would need to be in quarantine of some form and we are looking at what that would look like.’’
The novel coronavirus – known as covid19 – has now infected at least 69,000 people and killed 1670, most of them in central mainland China.
No cases have been reported yet in New Zealand, although the Ministry of Health continues to predict that the virus will likely reach our shores.