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The tourism industry is asking the government to come up with a plan to reopen the borders and provide every New Zealander with a $ 200 national travel card.
There is also support for Prime Minister Jacinda Adern to take over the tourism portfolio so that tourism can leverage its international reputation once foreign visitors can return.
Aotearoa’s tourism industry’s 100-day plan for the government includes giving each kiwi a $ 200 travel card to stimulate domestic tourism outside of weekends and school holidays.
TIA communications manager Ann-Marie Johnson said the card could be linked to special offers from participating hospitality and tourism companies, and that it would be used on weekdays only from the beginning of March.
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Spending on domestic travel has been uneven, and the Aotearoa tourism industry says that giving each kiwi a $ 200 travel card would distribute it during the week.
“New Zealanders prefer to travel on weekends and during school holidays, which leaves less demand during the week. This makes it difficult for tour operators to provide full-time employment, so a travel card would support jobs across the country. ”
TIA also wants a tourism innovation fund (similar to the $ 100 million accelerator fund that the National Party promised in its tourism policy) and access to new bridging finance for tourism companies that lack foreign visitors and cannot fill that gap. with Kiwi clients.
But the top priority for the industry was a long-term plan to reopen the borders when it was safe to do so.
“We must start talks with various countries and agree on the conditions to open the borders,” Johnson said.
The Executive Director of the Tourism Export Council (TEC), Lynda Keene, agreed.
He said the Government’s Tourism Futures Task Force would study how to develop the industry through 2050, but a more immediate plan on how to handle the return of international visitors was urgently needed.
Mark Baker / AP
The executive director of the Tourism Export Council, Lynda Keene, says there is growing support for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to take over the tourism portfolio, previously held by John Key when he was prime minister.
TEC expects to deliver a plan to the government in the next three weeks, and is consulting extensively with industry groups such as the car rental, cruise, coach travel, conferences, international education and aviation sectors.
“We will be looking for ideas to make sure there is a safe and well-managed program in place,” Keene said, with an international contact tracing app like goPassport used to track Covid-19 test results for arriving visitors.
In recent months there has been talk in industry circles that the Prime Minister will take over the tourism portfolio.
“It would send a very strong message to global markets that New Zealand takes its health outcomes seriously and that when the time is right, visitors can safely return,” Keene said.
When asked if the industry would support current Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis as associate minister for tourism, Keene said there were “a lot of cabinet ministers who would do the role very well.”
The government’s $ 400 million tourism rescue package has received considerable criticism for the way 130 tourism businesses were chosen to receive cash grants of up to $ 500,000.
But before the election Davis said Stuff it hoped to retain all of its portfolios and has repeatedly said that it would not re-examine the grant distribution for the strategic asset protection program.
