‘HOLIDAY AT HOME’
Tourism businesses are asking Kiwis to holiday at home following mass cancellations from overseas travellers.
West Coast Pancake Rocks cafe and motel owner Patrick Volk said he’d had thousands of dollars worth of cancellations since the travel restrictions aiming to halt the spread of coronavirus were announced.
‘‘No-one is wanting to come to New Zealand to visit and then selfisolate for two weeks. It is exactly the same effect as the Government saying we are not letting anyone into the country anymore,’’ he said.
The economic impact would be ‘‘devastating’’, but he believed the economy would suffer more in the long term without the restrictions.
More stringent lock-downs had been necessary overseas where governments did not act soon enough. ‘‘I beg New Zealand to support your Kiwi businesses,’’ Volk said. ‘‘Visit your country, go to cafes and restaurants spend some dollars if you can. It is only with New Zealand’s support that medium and small businesses will survive.’’
Akaroa businesses say they need local holidaymakers to help them through coronavirus-related tourism cuts that may cause job losses after cruise ships arrivals were curbed.
A Greymouth Airbnb operator, who would not be named, said the end of the summer season came abruptly with the travel restrictions announcement. ‘‘We were 90 per cent full to near zero in 24 hours for March ... I totally agree with and support the strict border controls that the Government have introduced though,’’ she said.
It came on the back of a tough season already with poor weather, road closures and a lack of Chinese tourists since the ban on flights from mainland China.
Franz Josef motel operator Logan Skinner said cancellations were flooding in since the announcement that all passengers arriving into New Zealand would have to self-isolate for two weeks. ‘‘We might be able to fall back on domestic tourism if people see this as opportunity to see their own country instead of travelling overseas. There’ll be good deals out there so I hope people will still come to the West Coast,’’ he said.
Westland mayor Bruce Smith said he had already seen the downturn in his district. ‘‘We have seen the downturn and it’s going to be significant and the real issue is not coronavirus – it’s the world stock markets. Having been in the centre of it in ‘87 there are lessons we can learn,’’ he said.
The West Coast economy relied mostly on dairy and tourism.
Glacier Hot Pools business manager Ashley Cassin said tourism operators were waiting to see what support package the Government would offer.
‘‘We might be able to fall back on domestic tourism.’’ Logan Skinner Franz Josef motel operator
They had already seen a 96 per cent drop in the Chinese market.
West Coast farmer Andrew Thomson said Farmlands AgFest
2020 was postponed following the directive from the prime minister advising against mass gatherings with more than 500 people.
It was due to attract up to
15,000 to the West Coast on March
27 and 28.
He was ‘‘deeply disappointed’’, but respected the need for public health authorities to keep Kiwis safe.
West Coast medical officer of health Cheryl Brunton said ‘‘some’’ people had been tested for coronavirus on the West Coast and the samples had been sent to Canterbury Health Laboratories.
‘‘Should anyone test positive, this would be announced nationally as has been the situation for the first eight confirmed cases,’’ she said.
Development West Coast chief executive Heath Milne said he was working with local businesses and would help them get any financial support they were entitled to.