The Detail analyzes New Zealand’s post covid tourism prospects

Wednesday, February 2, 2022

For future tourism, regenerative is a new word and it’s saving the industry.

Forget flitting across the Tasman for a party weekend, travellers in the coming days will be helping get rid of pests and carry their own trashes with them when they leave the place.

Today, The Detail, a daily news podcast produced by RNZ, sees the way how businesses related to tourism are managing as COVID related uncertainty drags and the “reset” that will bring a new kind of visitor.

“We’re still in the fight,” says Richard Benton, director of the West Coast Wildlife Centre in Franz Josef and home to the rarest kiwi, the rowi.

“We’re running on the smell of an oily rag. We’re fighting to stay open and employ people in the community.”
Since Covid closed the borders nearly two years back, they are fighting hard with the 80 per cent decline in business, it also struggles to hire and retain workers.

Benton says the centre, which is a private-public partnership with the Department of Conservation and Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio, is in urgency in terms of financial assistance to carry on until overseas visitors return.

Nearly two-thirds of rowi in the wild have been incubated and hatched at the centre, he says.

“Without a facility like ours, you would have to ask yourself what will the future for conservation around this particular kiwi look like in South Westland.

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