Hope for early return of tourists
WELLINGTON: International tourists are already planning to return to New Zealand before Christmas, the Tourism Export Council says, as it calls for the Government not to abandon the sector.
Chief executive Lynda Keene said she was concerned the economic significance of international tourism was being forgotten now Tourism New Zealand had been tasked with focusing on domestic tourism.
In the short term, a focus on domestic tourism ‘‘made sense’’ but international tourism contributed $17 billion to the economy and it was premature to write it off, she said.
Inbound international tourism and travel was the country’s largest source of export receipts before the sudden collapse of global travel in the past two months as nations closed their borders for an indefinite period to fight the Covid19 pandemic.
International travel agents were still holding bookings for New Zealand, and airlines had retained their landing slots at Auckland Airport, suggesting the sector was poised for a partial recovery, Ms Keene said.
‘‘It’s not the big writeoff the commentary is suggesting,’’ she said.
‘‘International tourism still has a prospect of beginning to creep back into the New Zealand economy before Christmas.’’
Justin TigheUmbers, executive director of airline industry association BARNZ, said that last April 31 airlines were flying 740,000 seats into New Zealand. This April, there were just three airlines, flying 40,000 seats into
New Zealand.
This 95% reduction in international travel had been a ‘‘seismic shock’’ for the airline and tourism industries and was ‘‘unimaginable’’ at the start of the year, he said.
Auckland International Airport has announced major staff cuts and Air New Zealand announced it was closing permanently its fiveyearold AucklandBuenos Aires service and would not reopen its Los AngelestoLondon route after June 30, when it will review other closed international routes. The end of that service had been announced for October before the pandemic took hold.
Mr TigheUmbers said the fact many airlines had suspended services to New Zealand rather than pulling out of the market meant they were ‘‘there and waiting’’ for when travel was able to resume.
Some airlines
have approached BARNZ to explore the possibility of resuming some services as early as June this year.
To ensure the industry is wellplaced to take advantage of a recovery, the Tourism Export Council is asking the Government to extend another 12week wage subsidy to affected tourism businesses.
All other sectors — even retail and hospitality — would be able to begin to recover once the domestic recovery restarted. But international tourism would not, which was why specific support was needed, Ms Keene said.
‘‘We are not asking for a handout, we are asking for a hand up,’’ she said.
‘‘We’ve built a $40 billion tourism industry and we’ll help drive the economy back to where it needs to be.’’
Tourism Holdings chief executive Grant Webster said that while the Government had acknowledged the disproportionate impact on the tourism industry as a result of measures to fight the spread of Covid19, he was not aware of any measures specifically aimed at supporting the industry.
‘‘The reality is, I’ve seen nothing or heard of any specific plans. However, I know that they’re listening. What they’re considering, I don’t know.’’
Mr Webster estimated there were about 400,000 jobs in tourism and associated activities. With no international tourists, the industry faced a 70% to 80% reduction in revenue.
Economists’ forecasts of unemployment that he had seen appeared to be assuming the loss of tourismrelated jobs would be about 100,000.
However, Mr Webster said it was ‘‘not unrealistic’’ that the unemployment impact could be double that.
Tourism Holdings itself has accessed both Australia’s jobkeeper scheme, which pays $A1500 ($NZ1596) a fortnight per eligible employee for six months from March 30, and New Zealand’s wage subsidy of $585.80 a week per fulltime employee or $350 a week per parttime employee for 12 weeks, Mr Webster said.
If New Zealand and Australia were to reopen their borders to each other, his company could start functioning at a reasonable level, although nowhere near normal.
Anna Black, chairwoman of the Tourism Export Council, said overseas travel agencies were hoping for travel to resume in September or October, while recognising this would be unrealistic if the 14day isolation requirement remained.
New bookings had dried up but existing bookings had mostly been retained or postponed. — BusinessDesk