Tourism help a ‘WTF moment’ for those left out
Entire North Island excluded from plan to revive businesses
Anger is mounting at the Government’s decision to target five South Island tourist regions with a $49 million kick-starter programme rather than help the industry across New Zealand.
Those in other parts of the country have been left out of the fund available for southern businesses that are ready to scale up operations or come out of hibernation to prepare for the return of international visitors.
Tourism Minister Stuart Nash announced last week that operators in Fiordland, Queenstown and Wanaka, Kaikōura, Westland’s glacier region and Mackenzie District-Aoraki Mt Cook are eligible for the support.
Northland motorbike touring business Open Road says it thought the entire sector was getting a break when the announcement was made — until it saw that help was confined to the five regions.
“So it was with anger and disbelief we saw that this relief package is again not open to the whole country. The fact the whole of the North Island is ineligible certainly made a WTF moment,” said the firm’s co-owner Lance Mitchell.
“We don’t deny that Queenstown has done it hard, but so have we all. How can the Government in all conscience overlook the entire North Island?” The funding should be open to any tourism business that fits the criteria — a high reliance on international tourism — not just certain areas, he said.
“At least they [ the South Island] have had some local business; we have had zero.” Tourism Industry Aotearoa ( TIA) and the Auckland Tourism Regional Forum have called for a rethink on the funding.
Tourism Minister Stuart Nash has not yet responded to Herald requests for comment.
OpenRoad provided boutique guided motorcycle tours for international tourists before the pandemic but has had just one client in the past two years. In spite of trying, it couldn’t move to the domestic market.
“We have had to mothball our business while retaining our fleet of motorcycles until such time when we can reopen — if we can reopen,” said Mitchell. “Our mental health and our financial health have suffered. All through this pandemic, we have continually been kicked when we’re down.”
Nash announced last week that tourism businesses that existed before the pandemic are eligible for grants worth two weeks of pre-Covid revenue, between $10,000 and $50,000 each, if they had a 50 per cent drop in annual revenue compared to 2019-20 levels.
The grants could be used to refresh facilities or marketing, train and hire staff, or source new stock in readiness for opening and will be administered by five South Island agencies.
Nash says the Government has invested $600m in targeted support to tourism, on top of broad-based support through the wage subsidy, resurgence support payment and other funds to help jobs and businesses.
Funding of some big “strategic” tourism businesses, some owned by rich-listers, came in for criticism in 2020.
TIA communications manager Ann-Marie Johnson said the kickstart funds should be extended to more regions.
The fund was created a year ago, pending the reopening of New Zealand’s border.
After another summer of reduced trade, many tourism businesses across the whole country would easily meet the kick-start criteria of a 50 per cent drop in annual revenue compared to 2019-20 levels.
TIA wants a further $100m of kickstart grants available to tourism operators across New Zealand. One potential source of funds is as-yet unspent money from the Government’s $200m Tourism Communities Support, Recovery and Re-set Plan, said Johnston.
“An investment in the industry by the Government at this point will be amply repaid in tourism’s renewed contribution to our economy and our communities,” she said.
Gavin Oliver, co-founder of EcoZip Adventures, and chairman of the Auckland Tourism Regional Forum, said he wholly supported TIA’s push to broaden the funding.
“While the five regions in the kickstart programme may be less economically diverse, and therefore more heavily reliant on tourism, the impact of the border closure has been devastating nationally.”
In its current form, he said, the programme essentially penalised tourism businesses for being in places such as Hawke’s Bay, Rotorua or Auckland.
“The impact of the border closure on these businesses has been no less acute than on their peers in the kickstarter regions.”