The Scenic Hotel in Franz Josef.
Photo: Supplied / Scenic Hotel Group
The Te Waonui Forest Retreat and Scenic Hotel in Franz Josef and the Heartland Hotel and Heartland Glacier Country in Fox Glacier will close at the end of the season in May.
Scenic Hotel Group managing director Brendan Taylor said despite investment from people in the region and a reimagined price point, the volume and appetite from domestic tourists was simply not there. Over the past year, the Group has exhausted all avenues to stimulate domestic tourism to the region in an effort to make up for the loss of international tourism and ongoing uncertainty around an Australian travel bubble.