Date: July 7th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Covid-19, Employment, Government & Politics, Headlines, Highlight, International, News
Tags: Employment, TNZ
Date: July 6th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Hunting operators have thrown their weight behind a campaign to stop the Department of Conservation killing tahr in national parks which is set to reach the High Court in Wellington on Wednesday.
The Professional Hunting Guides Association is backing a campaign launched by the Tahr Foundation which will see it this week make a High Court application for an injunction to stop the department going ahead with its 2020-21 plan.
The controversial plan, which came into effect last week, will see the department increase the number of tahr it kills, including culling all animals in national parks.
The association has claimed that the move will devastate the industry which provides hundreds of jobs, including to guides, accommodation and helicopter operators and retailers, and a multi-million dollar benefit to the country.
PHGA president, James Cagney, also plans to write to ministers including tourism minister, Kelvin Davis, and contact Tourism Industry Aotearoa and Tourism New Zealand to ask for help.
Cagney said: “This plan is a real blow. It would effectively decimate the tahr population in the Southern Alps and if successful will throw hundreds of people out of work.”
“Tourism is our lifeblood and we need help to stop this plan to ensure that a viable tahr resource remains when our booked and rescheduled international hunting clients return when the borders reopen and save hundreds of jobs.”
He added: “What DOC is planning couldn’t have come at a worse time. The Covid pandemic has already hit our industry hard and now with no disclosure of the draft plan during consultation, DOC is going to make things even worse.”
“We wanted help from the government to see us through this rough patch but instead what we have got are plans to decimate our livelihood.”
The Tahr Foundation Change.org petition, which asks DOC “to halt the 2020-21 tahr cull and review the Himalayan Tahr Control Plan”, has attracted nearly 40,000 signatures following its launch last week.
Tahr Foundation spokesperson, Willie Duley, said the campaign has the support of tourism operators who “stand to lose significant income just when they need it most because of the Covid crisis.”
DOC operations director, Dr Ben Reddiex, confirmed judicial review proceedings have been filed by the NZ Tahr Foundation, but added that “as the matter is before the court and DOC is respecting the court process, we can’t provide further comment at this time.”
He said that DOC finalised and approved its Tahr Control Operational Plan for 2020/2021 last week. It identifies how DOC will implement the statutory Himalayan Thar Control Plan 1993, and focuses on:
DOC also has the support of the New Zealand Conservation Authority (NZCA) which said it “strongly supports the Department of Conservation’s Tahr Control Operational Plan 2020-2021, and gives full support to the implementation National Parks Act’s policy of extermination of tahr, as far as possible, from the Aoraki/Mt Cook and Westland Tai Poutini National Parks.”
Duley said that the Give A Little page set up to help fund the Tahr Foundation’s legal battle has raised nearly $70,000 to date.
Posted in: Activities, DOC, Employment, Environment & Conservation, Government & Politics, Headlines, Highlight, News
Date: July 3rd, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
A new approach to border management must be taken to reconnect the country to the world, says a paper from former Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe, former prime minister Helen Clark and former chief science adviser Sir Peter Gluckman.
The trio’s Re-engaging New Zealand with the World questions how long the current border closures, in line with the country’s ‘keep it out, stamp it out’ Covid-19 strategy, could continue. It also questions the price of the strategy, which is cast as taking on both New Zealand Inc and, indirectly, New Zealanders.
Helen Clark
Instead, they argue that a new long term strategy must be developed to return New Zealand to global connectivity.
The paper, published today, said: “While we pin our hopes on a vaccine, it could be much further away than the hype suggests. Can we afford to wait out another year, two years, or even more in almost total physical isolation?”
At what cost is the country prepared to pay for this strategy, asks the trio.
“This is not just affecting tourism and export education, but also the many ways in which New Zealand projects and leverages its place in the world.”
The authors added that the development of a long-term strategy was even more relevant given the receding hopes of a trans-Tasman bubble in the near future.
“We need to be thinking about defining our longer-term strategy. Is New Zealand prepared to hold itself in its state of near-total isolation for the indefinite future? Even opening the trans-Tasman bubble looks further away than it did a month ago with resurgent community spread in at least one Australian state,” the report stated.
“The hoped-for early links with Singapore have similarly evaporated. Are there Pacific countries that we could now open up to with green lanes? Some other countries are starting to create green lanes, but they have not adopted the elimination strategy. The latter places higher expectations on the system.”
It urged a strategic analysis that was “transparent and preferably developed through a collaborative process, because whatever is done will change the risk landscape significantly”.
“Many stakeholders continue to be at the mercy of such decisions, and those stakeholders are not just businesses, they are indirectly every New Zealander.”
The New Zealand Aviation Coalition, which represents a group of core aviation service providers, welcomed the report.
“Kiwis are understandably cautious, but it is important that they talk about this and think broadly about what their and the country’s future might look like if a vaccine for Covid-19 is some years away,” NZAC chair Justin Tighe-Umbers said.
He added NZAC was committed to working with Government to help ensure people could safely cross the country’s border.
Download the Re-engaging New Zealand with the World paper here.
Posted in: Covid-19, Headlines, Highlight, News, Research & Reports
Tags: Report
Date: June 19th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Otago’s high exposure to tourism means it is facing the “biggest economic struggle” of the post-lockdown recession, according to Westpac’s latest Regional Roundup.
The bank said that Covid-19 would cause a recession in all regions of New Zealand, with the severity in each region and the pace of recovery dependent on the industry makeup.
It added: “Worst affected will obviously be the places that rely most heavily on overseas tourism. That is why Otago faces the biggest economic struggle of any region, and the South Island, in general, will be hit much harder than the North.”
Westpac’s June Regional Roundup presented a gloomy picture of “tourism-dependent” Otago and its outlook given the ban on international visitors, which has taken a toll on accommodation, hospitality, and recreational service and education providers.
“Economic activity in Otago will continue to be severely impacted by a ban on international tourists, making it the hardest hit region in the coming recession, and possibly the slowest to recover,” the bank said.
“Otago should get more domestic visitors and is likely to see an increase in Australian arrivals should a trans-Tasman travel bubble come into existence.
“However, numbers are still unlikely to get close to pre-Covid-19 levels over the coming year and this will weigh heavily on hospitality and retail activity in the region, particularly in the traditional tourist hotspots of Queenstown and Wanaka.”
The report paints a similar picture for Southland, which it predicts is set for a “severe recession in coming quarters and is set for a slow recovery because of the region’s heavy exposure to tourism”. Domestic visitation was unlikely to make up for the “large hole created by the loss of foreign visitors”.
The loss of international tourists is also expected to hit Canterbury’s economy, dampening activity in the region’s hospitality and retail industries, with impacts felt hardest in the Christchurch CBD.
In the Nelson/Marlborough/West Coast region, the West Coast was singled out as being the most vulnerable to the tourism downturn and was forecast to “struggle over the coming year, mainly because just under half of spending by tourists to the region comes from foreign visitor arrivals”.
The North Island is set to fare better than the South, according to Westpac, which picks Wellington and Auckland as having the strongest prospects for the year ahead. They were followed by Bay of Plenty and Waikato, where the impact of border closures is muted by lower reliance on international visitors and where local economies are more diversified.
This was the case for Wellington, where although tourism was expected to struggle, Westpac said it was likely to do so less than other regions because it had a lower proportion of international visitors pre-Covid.
Furthermore, Westpac added that a lack of foreign visitors to Wellington could be partially offset by an increase in domestic travel, with the same said of Waikato, Northland and the Bay of Plenty.
However, in the case of the Bay of Plenty, Westpac added: “This does not apply to all parts of the region. Places like Rotorua, for example, which focus heavily on foreign visitor arrivals, are likely to be more adversely affected by restrictions placed on them entering the country.”
And despite its expectations of a stronger overall economic performance from Auckland – relative to the rest of the country – it too was still predicted to feel the absence of international tourism “acutely”, with the mooted trans-Tasman bubble only likely to “take the edge off rather than save the day”.
Posted in: Arrivals, Covid-19, Headlines, Highlight, News, Otago, Regions
Date: June 12th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Data, Environment, Environment & Conservation, Headlines, Highlight, News, Research & Reports, Stats NZ
Tags: Data, Environment
Date: June 2nd, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: DOC, Headlines, Highlight, News
Tags: DOC, National Parks
Date: May 28th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Australia, Covid-19, Government & Politics, Headlines, Highlight, News
Date: May 22nd, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Tourism New Zealand has released the first major instalment of its new domestic work, as it steps in to encourage Kiwis to fill the yawning gap in the visitor economy left by absent international travellers.
The $500,000 Do Something New, New Zealand campaign launches today and will run on social media, on demand streaming services and traditional media websites.
It is part of an ongoing stream of work from the agency which will continue throughout the year with the aim of helping drive demand to the hard-hit tourism sector across New Zealand.
Prior to the Covid-19 crisis, international visitors accounted for around 40% of tourism’s $40.9bn contribution to the New Zealand economy, with the balance coming from domestic tourism.
New Zealanders also previously spent around $9bn on overseas travel each year, and capturing a portion of this spend domestically while the borders were closed would be critical to the sector’s recovery, according to Tourism New Zealand.
TNZ chief executive Stephen England-Hall said after taking a massive hit from the Covid-19 pandemic, the tourism sector was getting back up and running with many operators having opened their doors to welcome Kiwis.
“Now is the perfect time for Kiwis to make their ‘NZ must do’ bucket list item a reality. We’ve all got things we’ve always wanted to see and do. This campaign shares those moments and gets people thinking, why wait?” England-Hall added.
Prior to Covid-19, TNZ primarily focused on stimulating visitor demand from a portfolio of international markets, but it is now also supporting the country’s economic recovery by helping restart the tourism sector. The work is focussed on encouraging domestic tourism and providing new tools, data and insights to the sector along with business support services.
The Do Something New, New Zealand campaign follows a social media campaign by TNZ encouraging Kiwis to travel safely as the country transitioned to alert level 2 last week.
The production and media cost for the campaign was $500,000. Special Group was the creative agency and The Sweet Shop was the production company.
Posted in: Campaigns, Covid-19, Government & Politics, Headlines, Highlight, Marketing, News, Video
Date: May 22nd, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Accommodation, Arrivals, Data, Government & Politics, Guest Nights & Occupancy, Headlines, Highlight, News
Date: May 15th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Campaigns, Covid-19, Funding, Government & Politics, Headlines, Highlight, News
Tags: Budget 2020, TNZ
Date: May 15th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Tourism businesses at the sharp end of dramatic drop in international tourism say they have been “failed by government” and expressed “immense disappointment” at yesterday’s Budget 2020.
Tourism Export Council New Zealand chief executive, Lynda Keene, called yesterday a “sad day” for all businesses involved in the international tourism sector including the association’s inbound tour operator membership.
Lynda Keene
“Tourism touches every part of the national economy. The Government has failed the international tourism sector and appears to have given up on an industry that has produced so much for the NZ economy and society. How hard can it be to understand?” she said.
She questioned how the government could not provide specific support for the inbound tour sector which “has brought millions of international visitors into New Zealand and helped drive the economic prosperity of New Zealand for over 30 years, delivering $1.8bn of GST last year, and $17.8bn of GDP and international receipt contributions last year.”
“How can Government let this pipeline of future business through inbound tour operators wither away? Every third international visitor arriving in New Zealand is booked through an inbound tour operator.”
Keene criticised a lack of detail in the $400m tourism recovery fund which includes a tourism transition program and strategic assets protection program saying there is “no tourism plan attached to it with timeframes on when markets will rebound and the cost it might take to attract visitors back.”
It also failed tourism businesses that needed a cashflow injection to help with commercial rents and leases operating costs, Keene said.
On the wage subsidy extension, Keene said it was a welcome measure but eight weeks would not be long enough for ITOs to get through winter into spring when booking activity traditionally started again in earnest.
Tourism Industry Aotearoa had a more positive reading of Budget 2020, which it said sent “good signals that the Government has recognised the industry’s needs and will be an active partner in its recovery,” but made clear further support measures would be required in addition to the wage subsidy extension and $400m recovery fund.
“The Government has recognised the critical importance of the tourism industry to New Zealand’s future. Tourism was the first industry to be hit by the impacts of Covid-19 and will be the last to recover,” TIA chief executive Chris Roberts said.
“The Budget package will not be enough to prevent significant job losses across the industry. In terms of immediate survival, the measures announced today are welcome but further initiatives will be required in the months and years ahead.”
Roberts said an extension to the wage subsidy had been top of the request list for many tourism businesses, and almost all be able to meet the new qualification of showing at least a 50% drop in revenue, but acknowledge “some will be disappointed it is only for an additional eight weeks”.
This was a sentiment shared by chief executive of Hamilton & Waikato Tourism, Jason Dawson, who said the region’s tourism businesses had been “bleeding cash” trying to reduce overhead costs and using up their cash reserves or personal savings to stay afloat, could easily show a 50% reduction in revenue to meet the revised criteria.
He added: “The eight-week extension to the wage subsidy will help ease the pain and hopefully keep more people in the sector in the short-term. However, further initiatives will be required in the months ahead to prevent significant job losses.”
“Our people are our number one asset and retention is our key priority. They are experienced, talented, qualified and passionate for our industry. Without people, tourism and events is not a viable business model,” he added.
The Budget also mooted the formation of a Tourism Recovery Ministers Group and a public-private New Zealand Futures Tourism Taskforce as part of the $400m recovery package.
These, TIA said, were “important signals that the Government takes the survival of our tourism industry seriously”, and the taskforce to advise ministers “will have a crucial role to play in advising Government on the long-term recovery and reimagining of tourism.”
Posted in: Covid-19, Employment, Funding, Government & Politics, Headlines, Highlight, International, News
Tags: Budget 2020
Date: May 15th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Conferences, Conferences & Conventions, Convention Activity, Covid-19, Headlines, Highlight, MBIE, News
Tags: Budget 2020, Events
Date: May 11th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Auckland, Covid-19, Employment, Headlines, Highlight, News
Tags: Employment, SkyCity
Date: April 30th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Campaigns, Covid-19, Headlines, Highlight, International, News
Date: April 28th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Employment, Headlines, Highlight, News
Tags: TNZ
Date: April 24th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Christchurch & Canterbury, Covid-19, Headlines, Highlight, News, Tour, Tours
Date: April 24th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Accommodation, Auckland, Campaigns, Employment, Funding, Headlines, Highlight, Local Government, News
Date: April 17th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Dozens of tourism and hospitality businesses are in line for a rent reprieve as Queenstown Lakes District Council looks to mitigate the social and economic impacts of Covid-19.
The council is also seeking government funding to unlock more than $500m in key infrastructure projects, which it said would create more than 1,600 jobs and upwards of $1bn in economic benefit for the hard-hit region.
At an extraordinary meeting of full council yesterday, councillors voted unanimously to adopt the Rent Relief Policy, which will apply to 717 tenancies, licences and leases throughout the district – including around 75 tourism and hospitality tenancies.
Jim Boult
The measure included a two-month rent waiver for affected small-to-medium organisations, and a commitment to provide relief to large organisations affected by Covid-19 on an individual basis “taking into account their terms and circumstances”.
Residential tenants will also be given a 30% rent reduction over a three-month period.
Mayor Jim Boult said that “offering immediate relief means there is a chance more businesses in our district will survive this current global crisis, providing valuable jobs and shoring up our local economy.”
It also hoped its request for $68m in contributions from the $800m Crown Infrastructure Partners’ “shovel ready” fund would kick-start key infrastructure projects – and the economy – throughout the district.
These included plans to transform the town centre and develop the first stages of the arterial traffic routes, enhance the Wānaka lakefront, and upgrade and create new sport, cultural and recreational facilities at the Queenstown Events Centre.
The council said that Covid-19’s significant impact on visitor numbers in the foreseeable future “provides an opportunity to fast-track a number of sizeable projects that have already been proposed or approved, with minimal disruption”.
Boult said: “I, and many of the council team, have been working closely with central Government to advocate for significant support across our district. Our district could be hit far worse than most with over 50% of all jobs in tourism, food, accommodation or construction sectors.
“Investment in these much-needed infrastructure projects will have an important role in supporting the district, both socially and economically, as we move to a new post-Covid-19 normal.”
Separately, the council said it was potentially facing an unprecedented welfare crisis with thousands of people requesting support.
These included migrant workers, many of whom will be essential to the district’s economic recovery, who are currently ineligible for financial support through national channels, according to QLDC.
The district’s council-led Emergency Operations Centre had so far received more than 5,000 requests for welfare assistance from members of the community facing significant hardship due to the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Posted in: Accommodation, Activities, Covid-19, Funding, Government & Politics, Headlines, Highlight, Infrastructure, Local Government, News, Queenstown & Wanaka, Roading & Rail
Tags: QLDC
Date: April 15th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Covid-19, Government & Politics, Headlines, Highlight, News
Tags: TNZ
Date: April 9th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Covid-19, Government & Politics, Headlines, Highlight, News
Tags: TNZ
Date: April 8th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Covid-19, DOC, Funding, Government & Politics, Headlines, Highlight, Marketing, MBIE, News
Tags: Government, TNZ
Date: April 3rd, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
SkyCity Entertainment Group is making 200 New Zealand staff redundant as part of cost-cutting measures it says will “right-size and refocus the business” to become a much “smaller, domestically focused” operator.
The dual-listed NZX and ASX casino, hotel and attraction operator has also significantly reduced its capital expenditure programme and cut executive pay.
Graeme Stephens
In a stock exchange update this morning, chief executive Graeme Stephens said that following “an intensive evaluation of our strategic options” a redundancy process was started with immediate effect affecting approximately 200 salaried employees in New Zealand.
It had also asked waged staff to take an 80% pay cut, and offered voluntary redundancy to those not wishing to reduce wages.
Stephens said the New Zealand Government’s wage subsidy scheme had provided “significant assistance in being able to retain our lower level waged staff in New Zealand for as long as the subsidy is in place”, and were it not for the subsidy some 700 waged people would have been made redundant.
However, he warned that further cuts may be implemented for waged staff in the future.
At the executive level, salary cuts ranging from 20%-40% had been volunteered by the leadership team at group and property level for the remainder of the 2020 financial year.
This would see Stephens, the chief financial officer, and the chief operating officer’s salaries cut by 40%, with the board reducing its fees by 50% for the same period, and some of those savings used to establish a $1m Employee Hardship Fund.
A restructuring of the senior leadership team had seen the role of chief property officer, held by Peter Alexander, made redundant as the company paused all capital development projects in New Zealand, except for the New Zealand International Convention Centre and Horizon Hotel project.
Around 50 different small capital projects were on hold and “could assist our return to profitable operations and may be able to continue in an alert level 2 or level 3 environment,” Stephens said.
In Australia, around 90% of SkyCity’s workforce had been stood down and “no decisions have yet been made about potential redundancies”.
SkyCity said it was losing $90m a month in revenue during the lockdown while its five properties across New Zealand and Australia were closed.
However, it was still incurring significant costs including $20m in labour costs for its 5000-strong workforce.
“This is a storm we could, and would, weather if we were to reopen within a few months in a pre Covid-19 world. Unfortunately, the impact of Covid-19 is not limited to the short-term consequences of closure,” Stephens said.
“Even when we fully open, we reasonably expect that weaker economies, lower personal disposable income and changed entertainment habits, as well as longer-term travel restrictions, will result in us recommencing as a smaller, domestically focused business.
“Our International Business activities might recover reasonably quickly once travel restrictions are lifted, but the parts of our business driven by corporate travel and by tourism, such as our hotels and the Sky Tower, will take longer to recover.
“Given that our business has fundamentally changed for the foreseeable future, we need to take action now to address this.”
The fully implemented cost reduction plan for salaried and waged staff would impact around 900 people and generate labour savings of close to $50m per annum – a reduction of some 20%, which aligned with the anticipated reduced business activity over the next 12-18 months.
The estimated cost of the redundancies was $11m.
Stephens added: “We will review our outlook as the crisis evolves and may need to make further changes, especially if our properties remain closed beyond 30 June 2020 and/or travel restrictions remain in place for an extended period.”
Posted in: Accommodation, Attractions, Auckland, Australia, Conferences & Conventions, Covid-19, Headlines, Highlight, Hospitality & Retail, Hotels & Hostels
Date: March 17th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Operators from across the country have had a tumultuous 48 hours following the introduction of Saturday’s travel restrictions, dealing with cancellations, rationalising costs and studying cashflows.
The general consensus has been to wait for today’s government support package before making any “crazy, bold decisions”.
Matt Wong
Matt Wong, general manager of Queenstown’s iFly indoor skydive operation, which has been trading since August last year, said: “From a business perspective we’re looking at our overheads and cash flow and trying to restrict as much expenditure as we possibly can.
“We want to make sure that we can keep our staff employed. We’re looking at other overheads – whether it be sales and marketing spend, electricity spend, and we will be talking to our landlords at some stage about possible rent relief.”
Wong added that every small business and operation in Queenstown is feeling the impact of Saturday’s announcement, when Jacinda Ardern declared that from 1am Monday morning, all arrivals – barring those from the Pacific Islands – would need to self-isolate for 14 days and all cruise ship visits were suspended until 30 June.
For iFly, which has a short lead time for bookings and a lot of walk-ins, the full impact is expected to come through in the next few weeks.
“We still don’t know what impact the 14-day restriction will have because we’ve still got people in the country that are travelling right now.
“It will probably be from the end of this week onwards that we’ll see a massive decline in the numbers. I think our biggest challenge will be the loss from the Australian market. As long as we can get a bounce back in July from the winter school holidays we’ll probably be okay. But if it extends beyond that we’ll possibly be in trouble.”
Until then, Wong said that the business is “trying desperately” to protect its staff.
“We’re looking at areas where we can cut costs first but if we don’t get a solution from the government or some good news this week, then there could be a chance that we will have to have a look at labour costs.
“For now, the mood is not dire, but we do hope to get some good news later this week – it will have to be a very significant bit of good news for the whole industry to survive.”
Tour company Stray is another business which is waiting to hear what finance minister Grant Robertson announces today in a fiscal stimulus package which is expected to centre around jobs and cushioning industries such as tourism and hospitality which are suffering the most immediate effects of border restrictions.
Stray director, Brett Hudson, said his reaction to Saturday’s announcement was “shock but not surprise”.
The company, which primarily operates in the youth market, has responded to the travel restrictions by increasing flexibility within its booking terms and conditions.
“We already had some of the most flexible amendment rules in the market, which allowed people who book and pay today to travel anytime in the next twelve months, but we immediately pushed that out to two years.”
Hudson said the business is currently trying to rise to the challenge of “retaining every single booking”, adding the key is to continually innovate on the terms of travel and amendments.
“On Saturday the terms of travel amendment rules changed forever.”
Hudson pointed to the fact the youth sector is “resilient” and could be one of the first to bounce back, but in the short term the priority was “being responsible as we can be to customers and staff” as the business had to “box on”.
In this vein, the company was currently looking at “normal rationalisation” and no “crazy bold decisions” will be made “until the government’s role in this becomes clear.”
However, Hudson also acknowledging the fast-moving situation means that the opinions held and decisions taken today could be completely different in another few days.
Accommodation provider PurePods, which has six glass eco-cabins located in remote locations across New Zealand, said prior to Saturday it had a few cancellations from China or Italy that it could refill from its waitlist but the situation completely changed with Ardern’s announcement.
Chief executive Stephanie Hassall said bookings from April are now drying up and “there have been a bunch of people on the phone from Australia in tears” as they are having to cancel weddings and the following PurePod honeymoon stay.
With waitlists thinning out as the peak season recedes, Hassall said the company will be looking at the domestic market to fill the gaps. She said and the accommodation offers “the perfect isolation getaway.”
Operationally, the PurePods model of remote stays means that there is no close contact with guests. “We don’t have the same concerns as someone working at the front desk as a hotel, but nonetheless there is a plan in place regarding communication with guests and the team servicing PurePod locations day-by-day.”
It is also being flexible with bookings. Hassall said those who have had to cancel are typically looking to rebook for the same time the following year, however they don’t know exact dates.
Posted in: Accommodation, Attraction, Covid-19, Funding, Government & Politics, Headlines, Highlight, News, Queenstown, Tours
Tags: Covid-19, Government
Date: March 13th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Airports, Arrivals, Aviation & Airports, Corporate & Results, Covid-19, Headlines, Highlight, News
Date: February 27th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Environment, Environment & Conservation, Headlines, Highlight, News, Research & Reports
Tags: Environment, Research
Date: February 21st, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Accommodation, Australia, Headlines, Highlight, Hostels & Backpackers, Hotels & Hostels, Investment & Funding, News
Tags: Accommodation, Jucy
Date: February 19th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Covid-19, Employment, Fiordland, Headlines, Highlight, News
Tags: Covid-19, Employment
Date: February 19th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Accommodation, Corporate & Results, Headlines, Highlight, Hostels & Backpackers, Hotels & Hostels, News
Date: February 18th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Education, Events, Headlines, Highlight, News
Tags: Education
Date: February 14th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Australia, Conferences, Conferences & Conventions, Covid-19, Headlines, Highlight, News
Date: February 13th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Environment, Environment & Conservation, Headlines, Highlight, Iwi, News
Tags: CAUTHE, Environment
Date: February 12th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Conferences, Conferences & Conventions, Headlines, Highlight, News, Research & Reports
Tags: CAUTHE, Conference
Date: February 4th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Accommodation, Covid-19, Headlines, Highlight, Hotels & Hostels
Date: January 30th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Auckland, Headlines, Highlight, News, People
Tags: People
Date: January 24th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Arrivals, DOC, Environment & Conservation, Headlines, Highlight, News, Research & Reports
Tags: DOC
Date: January 17th, 2020, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Accommodation, Employment, Headlines, Highlight, HR & Labour, News, Queenstown
Tags: Real Journeys
Date: December 19th, 2019, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Gavin Oliver
Waiheke Island operator EcoZip Adventures is set to expand to the South Island having successfully secured a site in Kaikoura, five years after it first starting scoping out the destination.
Co-founders Gavin Oliver and Chris Holister have been granted resource consent to develop a new adventure tourism operation on an 11,000-hectare piece of private land 9km south of the popular destination for which they have secured a 50-year lease.
The partners are privately funding the expansion, and are planning for the new product to open in October 2020.
The move comes five years after the business first looked to secure a concession for a Kaikoura site on Department of Conservation land at Mt Fyffe in 2014. That application was subsequently withdrawn, and the partners opted to go down the private-land route.
Oliver said they intend to build a series of ziplines, totalling more than 2km in length, on what is a working cattle and sheep station. The experience will also see visitors ford a braided river in specialist 4×4 vehicles before climbing to 250m for a guided walk through native forest.
It is expected to create up to 30 jobs with preference given to locals, according to Oliver.
The October 2020 opening aligns with other significant in the seaside location, including the opening of Sudima’s $20m hotel and Kiwirail’s planned upgrade of its Coastal Pacific upgrades which includes an overhaul of Kaikoura’s train station.
EcoZip, which started operating in 2012, said that its conservation ethos will be replicated at the new site, starting with a native tree planting programme designed to rehabilitate former farmland alongside the introduction of a pest eradication plan.
Oliver said that there are multiple synergies between his business and the town where the Regional Tourism Organisation, Destination Kaikoura, recorded spend of $119m in the year to October according to Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates.
He said: “Kaikoura has established a well-deserved reputation as New Zealand’s premier sustainable and environmental tourism hub. As a conservation focused product we believe EcoZip will be a natural fit.”
Collaboration is another major focus for the business, according to Oliver, who added: “The Kaikoura area boasts some outstanding operators who we’re looking forward to working with to jointly develop more reasons for visitors to add Kaikoura to their itineraries.”
Kaikoura’s deputy mayor and chair of Destination Kaikoura, Julie Howden, said: “The arrival of a land-based, conservation-focused, product will strengthen the Kaikoura tourism proposition, fitting with the town’s desire to develop reasons for visitors to stay longer, do more and engage further with the town’s businesses.”
Posted in: Activities, Adventure, Auckland, Headlines, Highlight, Kaikoura, News
Tags: Adventure
Date: December 19th, 2019, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Aviation & Airports, Environment, Environment & Conservation, Headlines, Highlight, Investment & Funding, News, Research & Reports
Date: December 18th, 2019, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Environment, Environment & Conservation, Headlines, Highlight, News, Research & Reports
Tags: Environment, Report
Date: December 9th, 2019, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Corporate & Results, Headlines, Highlight, Marlborough, Marlborough & Kaikōura, News, People
Tags: People
Date: December 6th, 2019, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Attraction, Attractions, Hawke's Bay & Gisborne, Headlines, Highlight, News
Tags: Aquariums
Date: December 5th, 2019, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Headlines, Highlight, Investment & Funding, News, Queenstown & Wanaka
Tags: Investment
Date: November 29th, 2019, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Corporate & Results, Headlines, Highlight, News, People
Tags: Corporate, Scenic Flight
Date: November 27th, 2019, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Auckland, Corporate & Results, Headlines, Highlight, News
Tags: Corporate, Scenic Flight
Date: November 25th, 2019, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Headlines, Highlight, Innovation & Technology, Marketing, News
Tags: Technology, TNZ
Date: November 22nd, 2019, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Aviation & Airports, Conferences, Conferences & Conventions, Headlines, Highlight, News, North America
Tags: Conference, TNZ
Date: November 21st, 2019, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Headlines, Highlight, News, Queenstown, RTO
Tags: RTO
Date: November 20th, 2019, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Funding, Government & Politics, Headlines, Highlight, News
Date: November 11th, 2019, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Attractions, Companies, Headlines, Highlight, News, Queenstown
Tags: Corporate
Date: November 6th, 2019, Posted by Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Posted in: Corporate & Results, Headlines, Highlight, News, People
