Supplied A strong and well-coordinated plan to welcome tourists back was essential, she said. “This combined with the vaccination roll-out provides us cautious optimism that we are starting to reach a turning point in our response to one of the most significant economic disruptors of our generation.” Westland District Mayor Bruce Smith was especially pleased with the $49 million allocated to assisting businesses, particularly in Fox Glacier and Franz Josef, that had gone into hibernation.
John Kirk-Anderson/Stuff
Regional forecasts show up to 80 per cent of jobs in Franz Josef are at risk. “That will be huge for us. The reality is that we’ve got to have attractions if we want people coming to visit us,” Smith said.
Covid 19 coronavirus: Government unveils $200m tourism package to help struggling operators
5 May, 2021 10:00 PM
3 minutes to read
Tourism Minister Stuart Nash announces the $200m tourism package. Photo / George Heard
Jason Walls is a political reporter for the New Zealand Heraldjason.walls@nzme.co.nz@Jasonwalls92
The Government has unveiled a $200 million support package for hard-hit tourism players to ensure their long-term transformation and, ultimately, their survival.
Some businesses will be eligible for a $5000 grant to help them plan for the future; they could also receive a further $5000 to help put those plans in action.
Tourism Minister Stuart Nash has also made available more than $25m to help tourism players plan, promote and market activities in their regions.
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Milford Sound will receive $15m towards planning, consenting and consultation required for new infrastructure to better cope with visitor numbers that reached 870,000 annually pre-Covid-19 “Whole communities, especially in five South Island regions, are facing new challenges to their way of life,’ Nash said. The package comes a day after a survey of 333 businesses by Tourism Industry Aotearoa showed four out of every 10 tourism jobs were lost last year as revenue dropped almost half on average. The lower South Island experienced the biggest workforce drop of 53 per cent. Nash said he had clearly signalled that areas most in need of support would get it, and although Auckland has suffered the biggest fall in tourism spending, it was better placed to survive than smaller South Island communities “gutted” by a dramatic loss of income.
Mountain Scene
By PHILIP CHANDLER
Tourism Minister Stuart Nash predicts Queenstown could enjoy a record ski season thanks to the trans-Tasman bubble, and hints he’ll announce more measures to help the Covid-ravaged tourism industry next week.
In the resort on a family holiday last weekend, Nash spoke to
Mountain Scene after he was
spotted chatting with mayor Jim Boult at Exchange Cafe.
He’s previously suggested he’ll look at doing more for the battling tourism industry.
Nash now says in ‘‘a big speech’’ at TRENZ Hui 2021 a tourism business event in Christchurch next week he’s going to ‘‘outline a number of measures’’ to help.