The clean, green grass of home
Fancy a cannabis tour with your wine tasting? Industry experts say tourists might flock here to check out ‘clean, green and pure’ cannabis. Anuja Nadkarni reports.
In the not too distant future, tourists to New Zealand might book a trip to a cannabis farm alongside their winetasting tours.
They might eat at fine-dining restaurants serving cannabisinfused products ... that is, if some industry proponents get their way.
While cannabis doesn’t have a reputation for being particularly high-end in New Zealand just yet, businesspeople around the world are identifying ways to offer cannabis as a luxury experience, and say there could be opportunities here, too.
California-based chef Chris Sayegh visited New Zealand last year for a ‘‘Bistronomy’’ event in Napier, to cook locally foraged, fished and hunted produce infused with cannabis terpenes (essential oils).
Sayegh owns and runs The Herbal Chef, a fine-dining restaurant in Los Angeles, California, where cannabis is infused into the food, which he says is designed to change people’s perceptions about the plant. A 10-course meal at his restaurant costs about US$500 (NZ$747).
‘‘The plant is so much more than what we’ve been programmed to think about, which is just about getting high,’’ Sayegh says.
Cannabis hospitality has been growing in the United States as individual states legalise its recreational use.
Sayegh says New Zealand’s natural landscapes make it an ideal location for travellers looking for a different tourism experience.
‘‘When someone is sitting down with cannabis they’re a bit more mindful than if they were intoxicated from alcohol,’’ he says.
‘‘Fine-dining multi-course experiences mixed with all the natural beauty of New Zealand would make tourism robust and well rounded.
‘‘I see craft cannabis happening in New Zealand. People growing wide-spectrum cannabis and it being part of the tourism with outdoor cafes, fine dining and experiences packaged with tours of your robust landscapes.’’
A survey this year found 44 per cent of Restaurant Association members were keen to get involved with potential opportunities, says chief executive Marisa Bidois.
Respondents are willing to sell cannabis-infused food or cannabis products, if voters support reform, she says.
‘‘Infusing CBD in food could create unique cuisine opportunities and potential new markets for experiential dining. In the dining world we’re all about creating dining experiences.
‘‘New Zealand is at an advantage because it can learn from what countries overseas have done and create a product that’s even better.’’
In the United States, the Original Colorado Cannabis Tour in Denver includes visits to dispensaries and a a growing facility. A glass-pipe blowing demonstration rounds out the US$90 four-hour bus tour.
Research by the Colorado Tourism Office showed tourists visiting the state for cannabisrelated activities spent more and stayed for longer than those visiting for other reasons despite representing less than 15 per cent of the total.
Tourists travelling for cannabisrelated activities in 2018 stayed for an average of 5.1 nights, compared with an average of 4.6 nights, and spent US$2030 versus the average US$1869, Colorado Biz reported last year.
In Auckland, medicinal cannabis entrepreneur Paul Manning says he has received tens of thousands of requests from strangers asking to visit his business, Helius Therapeutics.
‘‘People call asking just to see what the plant looks like and how it grows. Cannabis is something that really fascinates people. There’s a genuine opportunity for tourism here,’’ Manning says.
Due to strict regulations and biosecurity standards, the company has not allowed visitors to see how it operates, he says.
‘‘It might seem silly now with cannabis legislation being such a new concept for New Zealand.
‘‘But if it passes, in time cannabis tourism could grow to become similar to the wine industry, which has made our
regions destinations. It’s an intoxicant just as wine and involves all the craft just as winemaking. I think it can go that way.’’
Wine tourists spent more than $3 billion in New Zealand in 2018. Nearly 777,000 people visited these shores just for the wine, according to New Zealand Winegrowers.
Sayegh says operating as a cannabis-friendly restaurant involves jumping through numerous regulatory hoops.
‘‘In California people can’t take leftovers home, which is absolutely crazy. There used to be a law, which has been repealed after a lot of lobbying, where people couldn’t leave a cannabis shop unless they bought something,’’ he says.
‘‘These issues arise when people are making legislation based on fear and don’t know enough.’’
Economic think tank Berl says the legalisation of cannabis could generate nearly $1b in government revenue but also cause a short-term spike in consumption.
Its report says some 5000 fulltime jobs would be created, paying wages and salaries of $210 million each year.
The market would contribute $440m to the country’s gross domestic product, and the income tax take would amount to $30m.
But Justice Minister Andrew Little warns the reports need to be taken with ‘‘a grain of salt’’.
Tourism New Zealand did not comment on the prospect of cannabis tourism.
New Zealand’s proposed Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill has been designed to prevent vertical integration, which means an individual cannot hold a licence to sell and grow cannabis.
And recreational cannabis could not be exported but cannabis tourism could be, Manning says.
The proposed bill does not prohibit companies from collaborating, he says. ‘‘There is no reason why an independent
tourism operator couldn’t take tourists to a growing facility, then a processing plant and then take them to a cannabis cafe or lounge to experience the product.’’
Colorado-based accommodation company Bud and Breakfast has been operating as a sort of Airbnb for cannabis tourism since 2013 and its founder, Sean Roby, will be keeping a close eye on the outcome of the referendum.
Roby, who lived in Auckland briefly, says his company is always on the lookout for new markets.
‘‘Everyone wants to go to New Zealand for a trip. You’re going to see a lot of innovation coming out of this,’’ Roby says.
Bud and Breakfast has been popular despite Covid-19 because of domestic travel, he says.
‘‘We’re seeing a lot of medical tourism, people staying with families for medical cannabis therapy if they have a child with epilepsy or an auto-immune disease.’’
New Zealand’s first and only cannabis museum has already edged into cannabis tourism.
A former deputy leader of the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party, Abe Gray, opened the Whakamana Cannabis Museum in Dunedin in 2013. Gray had a room above the museum listed on Airbnb for three years with 100 per cent occupancy, before he tried to relocate the museum.
He says that if the referendum passes, cannabis-infused products could become one of the country’s top fast-moving consumer goods.
Gray is keen to collaborate with celebrity chefs to set up a hemp food eatery.
‘‘Having some novelty factor is important for businesses who want to recover from Covid-19,’’ he says.
‘‘Enthusiasm for cannabis education is exploding, and we’re just at the tip of the iceberg.’’
‘‘New Zealand is at an advantage because it can learn from what countries overseas have done and create a product that’s even better.’’ Marisa Bidois Restaurant Association chief executive