Good news but little money

It’s election year and the Government has good news for all. This week, there are big announcements for the tourist industry and our many threatened species. The budget plan to spend $178m on tourism infrastructure, nearly half of that on DOC’s green tourism ventures, is welcome as far as it goes. Unfortunately, that is not very far, given the size of the industry’s problems.

And the triumphalist project of managing 40 per cent more threatened species by 2022 is mainly wind and aspiration, unmatched by the necessary funds. And of course nobody will quibble with the idea of making the country predator-free by 2050, but doing this will literally cost a fortune. There is no sign the Government intends to spend anything like so much.

Tourism is the biggest single export earner, accounting for 21 per cent of total earnings and an impressive 10 per cent of GDP. Tourism has grown enormously in recent years, with about 3.3 million visitors a year. It could grow to 4.5 million by 2025, according to a major tourism industry study late last year, but growth has brought big problems as well as benefits.

The industry study said between $100m and $150m will have to be spent each year for the next decade to improve the tourist infrastructure. The need is everywhere, from more public toilets to better huts and tracks on DOC’s world-famous walks.

These figures give a different slant to the Government’s news about $178m, not all of it entirely new spending, spent over four years. Clearly much more will be needed. And that raises the question once again of why the Government still rejects the idea of a national tourism levy.

Christopher Luxon, chief executive of Air New Zealand, has backed the idea. Tourists throughout the world, he points out, are used to paying this tax. Tourism minister Paula Bennett’s worries that it will repel visitors to this country are exaggerated. Modest levies would raise $65m a year, according to the 2016 tourism study, and would add less than 1 per cent to the average spending by international visitors. Imposts of this size are found in many countries.

The Government plans to increase the number of threatened species under management and has restated its goals of having 20,000 ha of the mainland predator-free by 2050. But where will the money come from?

Conservation Minister Maggie Barry hints there will be more money for DOC in this budget round but gives no details. But Forest & Bird CEO Kevin Hague says real gains would require a doubling of DOC’s budget. Nobody thinks that is likely.

Unfortunately, all these problems intersect. Tourists flock to our great green spaces, but predators threaten to reduce the bush to a ragged silence. Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright pointed out in her 2011 report on 1080 that the Government poisons only a small fraction of our national estate.

Yet without a huge spending boost, more damage will be done to the green treasures that attract so many tourists in the first place.

Tourism and threatened species need more government help.