Skydiving business plunges without overseas custom Mayor keen to work with others on answer
WANAKA TE ANAU
A MAJOR Queenstown and Wanakabased adventure tourism operator has described the future of the industry as being in ‘‘dire straits’’ and on a downward spiral.
NZONE Skydive and Skydive Wanaka business development manager Derek Melnick said every month that they continued with only domestic tourists it was a decreasing opportunity.
‘‘We are eternally grateful for the Kiwis that have come out and supported us. It has been better than we thought, but every month we continue just domestically it is a downward spiral and we can’t sustain it.’’
Mr Melnick said since the border closures NZONE Skydive and Skydive Wanaka had had to downsize, drop their prices and cut back on their operations.
It was impossible to plan and there was no certainty, he said.
Mr Melnick said Tourism NZ was doing ‘‘all it could’’ but it was a marketing body and could not change behaviour.
He said the great enabler would be transport.
‘‘I think there needs to be more creative thinking collaboratively with government and Air New Zealand around enabling more air travel to Queenstown.
More ‘‘connectivity’’ and attractively priced airfares between Queenstown and places like Nelson and Rotorua, he said.
‘‘I know that puts pressure on Air New Zealand’s model but, rather than wage subsidies and government handouts, it is something more circular in the economy.’’
Late Thursday afternoon, with the help of Skydive Wanaka pilot Hamish Brown, Mr Melnick removed an advertising billboard from the Wanaka Base Backpackers in Brownston St.
The backpackers reportedly confirmed in an email to its business contacts 10 days ago that due to unavoidable circumstances, the business was closing on January 31.
The Otago Daily approached Wanaka Base Backpackers for a comment but did not receive a response.
Lake Wanaka Tourism acting general manager Tim Barke said many tourist businesses were hurting and ‘‘seriously concerned’’ about their survival.
‘‘We had reasonable numbers [of visitors] in town over Christmas and New Year, with Kiwis spending on lower ticket items and activities.
‘‘Anecdotally, activity operators have found it hard to attract Kiwis for products over $100, which is below the cost of running many of them,’’ Mr Barke said.
Ignite Chamber of Commerce spokeswoman Naomi Lindsay said many customer service businesses reported a slightly slower Christmas period than usual, but the situation improved for New Year, and some reported a 2030% average increase yearonyear across the 1012 days and on certain days business was up considerably for some.
Future prospects were not looking bright, once the school holidays ended and as long as the borders remained closed.
‘‘There was limited visitor business coming our way in February and March,’’ she said.
THE Te Anau community is under as much, if not more, pressure as the Queenstown Lakes as the economic fallout from Covid19 continues to bite, its leaders say.
Southland District Mayor Gary Tong says the area — which before Covid had a population of less than 3000 — is in ‘‘dire straits’’.
While support from domestic tourists had, to date, been amazing, it was too late for many who had been made redundant and, with no other employment options, forced to leave the town.
Deputy mayor Ebel Kramer said restaurants, hotels, motels, camping grounds and cafes had all been forced to reduce staffing numbers last year and, if borders remained closed, there would be more redundancies.
Mr Kramer said the town had been busy during school holidays and over the peak summer period and many people had visited for the first time.
‘‘But we have to be real — they’re not going to come back in two weeks’ time and do the same thing again.’’
Mr Tong said he had spoken to Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult and said he was keen to work with him on solutions to better the communities at large. ‘‘We can’t work in silos. ‘‘You’ve got people in the tourism business who are cutting their cloth to suit, and they’re still going to fall through the cracks.’’
Southern Lakes Helicopters office manager Erin Robertson said the town was ‘‘noticeably quiet’’ for this time of year.
‘‘It is quite concerning.
‘‘I drove up the main street just before lunch today and there were a lot of empty parks — this time last year it would have been full, people unable to get parks.
‘‘We’ve been as optimistic as we can, but with the scares we’ve just had and the potential for even that Australian bubble not to be happening till the end of this year . . . that hope’s kind of gone as well now.’’
Southern Lakes Helicopters was not solely reliant on tourism and subsequently was ‘‘doing OK’’, but the same could not be said for other businesses in the town, she said.
However, she did not believe another wage subsidy, targeting the tourism industry, was a viable option.
‘‘I don’t think the country can afford [that].
‘‘It’s a hard thing to say, but we have to pay all this debt back and I don’t think the country can afford that.
‘‘[There’s] the risk of spending that money and we go into lockdown [again] and all businesses have no opportunity to trade.
‘‘Sadly, I don’t want [struggling businesses to close], but I think some of them will.
‘‘They just can’t carry on. They’ve probably spent a lot of the cash reserves that they’ve had and hoping that transtasman bubble would happen in March, which we kind of expected.
‘‘I think that’s really been dashed now, so there will be some very concerned people out there.’’