For tourism businesses in New Zealand, more precision is required

Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Last week, after seeing the comments of Hon Stuart Nash, the Tourism Minister, New Zealand, in terms of international borders not reopening until late 2022, Destination Queenstown is quite worried about as more clearness is required for the tourism industry to prepare and recruit staff, and guide in decision making.

DQ Chief Executive Paul Abbot explains that the unstable and uncertain nature of the COVID is not something that is likely to wither almost immediately. However, he thinks that more could be done to help tourism and make sure its longevity. A clearer view and timeframe on border reopening without the quarantine of seven days would help the industry a lot.

In pre-COVID situation, 70% of the total visitors of Queenstown were from international markets and for every one Queenstown Lakes resident; $73,594 was spent by visitors on local tourism (at year end 2019). Also, tourism contributed 44% of the Queenstown Lakes GDP (while nationally, tourism contributed 5.1%).

To quote Mr. Abbot, “Locally, there are tourism operators who are living day to day at the moment, trying to see things through until borders ease and they can get out of the red. Most of these are local families who have built these businesses up over time and are incredibly passionate about the region and sharing that with visitors from around the world.”

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