Taranaki’s take on 2021
While industry insiders hope to leave any Covid-related hardships in 2020, they are quite literally prepared for the worst. Tara Shaskey reports.
As countries begin rolling out vaccinations in a step towards ending the global coronavirus pandemic, Taranaki’s industry players are sitting tight, cautiously optimistic
2021 will be without the adversities of last year.
Even though the uncertainty looms, hotelier Daniel Fleming says his business learnt a lot during lockdown and is now better prepared to deal with the virus.
‘‘There’s no doubt we’re better performers all round, probably running more efficient businesses, and that’s something Covid’s taught us,’’ the co-owner and general manager of King and Queen Hotel Suites says.
‘‘We know now that we can go through those tough times but we have to have the right tools and resources and plans to do it.’’
Like many sectors, Covid-19’s closure of the borders and lockdown saw the region’s accommodation providers ‘‘knocked down hard’’.
Shortly after, though, domestic travel exploded and Fleming says they recovered fast, with occupancy rates hitting new heights.
And they’re continuing to ride that wave, with beds being snapped up by tiki-tourers and the many revellers expected to fill the TSB Bowl of Brooklands for a summer of concerts.
But while Fleming is confident
2021 will deliver the goods, he’s keeping a wary eye on April and beyond.
‘‘Coming into winter could be challenging, when people head back to work and don’t travel as much, and if the borders are still closed, there could be a softer demand period.’’
Former Tourism New Zealand chief executive Stephen EnglandHall previously told Stuff autumn would be the moment of truth for the country’s tourism industry after its first summer without international visitors.
He believed 2021 would be tough, and it would be 2022 to 2025 before the sector saw any significant recovery.
Taranaki’s tourism spend was down seven per cent in the year ending October 2020, totalling $389 million, of which 81.5 per cent came from domestic tourists, the latest Venture Taranaki (VT) figures report.
As a region, Taranaki has fared better than most, given it’s focused on a domestic tourism market and is less reliant on international visitation, VT chief executive Justine Gilliland says.
‘‘We’ll continue to monitor the landscape over summer and early autumn, but with a steady lineup of vibrant events on the horizon, including a new addition to our calendar, Oxfam [Trailwalker], we expect to see positive numbers for Taranaki.’’
New Plymouth publican David Stones says after ‘‘taking a beating’’ in the thick of the country’s pandemic experience, there’s ‘‘no debate’’ his recent profits are up on last year’s.
For this, the owner of Good Home, Rooftop Bar, and Icons sports bar credits his patrons’ community spirit.
‘‘One of the good things that has come out of 2020 is that New Zealanders and the people of Taranaki are thinking local, buying local and acting local.’’
Heading into 2021, Stones’ outlook is upbeat. ‘‘As long as we can control our little island, we’re going to be OK.’’
Covid taught him life is unpredictable and with his work in the hospitality industry, he has to be prepared for change.
Pivoting during Covid is something Keith Mawson, of Egmont Seafoods, can identify with.
Since lockdown, the fish processor and exporter has experienced a lift in retail, but he’s having to adjust to changes in the export arm of his business.
Mawson trades chilled products predominantly to the Australian and United States markets, and frozen goods to Europe and Asia.
He says freight space is at a premium and the markets they are supplying are currently soft.
As a result, there is a downward pressure on pricing.
‘‘We’ve got to be prepared to react to what the market’s requiring, and be prepared to change and it’s about communicating with our suppliers, being our fishermen, and try to make sure we’ve got the right type of product coming in here for the markets.’’
Congestion at ports and a lack of space on planes and
container ships has been an ongoing issue since Covid, hitting exporters, manufacturers and consumers in the pocket and delaying imports.
Pak ’n Save New Plymouth owner Peter Melody is one of many experiencing supply issues because of the backlog at ports.
He’s mostly been waiting on cleaning, health, and beauty products.
But Melody is now an old hand at dealing with supply issues. Once Covid hit, like supermarkets nationwide, his shelves were depleted of products such as flour, rice, pasta, toilet paper and hand sanitiser.
As a result, he now has strategies in place in case Covid returns to the community.
Included in his game plan is a stash of high-demand items, like hand sanitiser, as well as
Covid messaging ready to go.
Grocery shopping has otherwise returned to pre-Covid times with customers appearing relaxed in store, online sales decreasing to the ‘‘normal’’ rate, and there being no extraordinary consumption of any particular items, Melody says.
But it’s not a time to be complacent.
‘‘While the risk in New Zealand is minimal, that could change at any moment.
‘‘We’re very conscious that it’s so easy to relax here but it’s getting worse in places around the world.’’
As the global Covid death rate nears two million, there have been 25 in New Zealand. Around 20,000 Covid tests have been taken in
Taranaki to date, with 16 confirmed cases, all of whom have recovered.
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, kaiarataki of Te Runanga o Nga¯ ti Ruanui, which runs healthcare centres in Ha¯ wera and Pa¯ tea, says as a response to Covid the clinics quickly implemented a mixed model of face-to-face and online consultations as well as after-hours solutions, much like practices nationwide.
‘‘Our whole way that we’re mobilising in a health promotional sense has been about getting out more to wha¯ nau rather than bringing people into a clinical scenario – that wha¯ nau ora model.’’
With the region suffering a shortage of doctors, NgarewaPacker, who is also co-leader of the Ma¯ ori Party, says health services
had to think outside the box so
as not to put a strain on services.
And the mixed model has worked so well the South Taranaki clinics plan to continue with it.
When Covid hit, Taranaki iwi worked together to mobilise a local Ma¯ ori response plan, and Ngarewa-Packer says resurgence planning is ongoing.
Iwi established road blocks at the region’s borders in April at alert level 3 when leaders felt there was a lack of community testing.
Ngarewa-Packer says if coronavirus returns to
Taranaki, iwi will again push for the Government to seal the borders.
A sudden community transmission and returning to lockdown is in the back of Silk Skin Spa owner Charlotte Ward’s mind every day. ‘‘I’m very wary that everything could change tomorrow.’’
As a small business owner, Ward is responsible for six other wages, which essentially means six other families.
This weighed on Ward during lockdown and saw her take a job at a supermarket to keep her business afloat and staff employed. ‘‘The theory behind it was that if we were in lockdown for months, which we had no idea about, those bills would keep coming in.’’ Across the country, thousands have lost their jobs because of Covid. In early November, there were 137,147 people receiving either Jobseeker Support – Work Ready or the Covid-19 Income Relief Payment, up on 81,976 in late March.
The number of Taranaki people on Jobseeker support was up by
33.5 per cent in the year ending August 2020, a rise from 3761 to
5022. But last month, the Ministry of Social Development reported more Taranaki people were finding work compared to the previous year, with 312 landing jobs in November compared to 177 in November 2019.
It was Ward’s goal to make it to the end of 2020 without having to lay off any staff or drop their hours, which she smashed and topped off with the employment of a seventh worker over Christmas.
Ward says she’ll ‘‘absolutely’’ head back to the supermarket if 2021 throws up a repeat. But she now feels in a better position to deal with a lockdown should the virus return. ‘‘After the last one we tightened up our policies, put a ‘what if’ plan in place, and upgraded our online store and marketing plan.
‘‘If we were told tonight you need to lock down, everyone in my team knows what to do.’’