Covid-19 coronavirus: New Zealand chief of tourism Stephen England-Hall is watching the big Kiwi party

The head of tourism who is spearheading the drive to sell New Zealand to Kiwis has glimpsed the future and likes what he sees.

New Zealand Executive Director of Tourism Stephen England-Hall is part of an innovative project To “reimagine” the visitor industry here and your organization will redirect a large portion of its $ 111 million annual budget to market to a national audience.

The organization has not done that in decades. Its mission was to attract foreign visitors, but due to Covid-19, that market has been completely cut off with no certainty when it will come back on.

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For the past five weeks, England-Hall has been in contact with thousands of people involved in what was a $ 41 billion a year industry to get an idea of ​​what it could be like in the future and how to make more New Zealanders enjoy your own backyard where it will be greatly limited for the foreseeable future.

Spending at home has always made up the bulk of that $ 41b, but kiwis will now be able to spend at least part of the $ 11b they spent abroad last year to see more of their own country.

England-Hall says the blockade had provided an opportunity to remotely communicate with a wide variety of players, from operators to iwi groups and those involved in environmental conservation and protection.

“Actually, over the past few weeks we have had the opportunity to go out and connect with a lot of people and try to understand what is going on.”

The key themes were coming.

Tourism participants want an industry that New Zealand can be proud of, sustainable, support the communities it is based on, and take advantage of Kiwi’s ingenuity.

He said that a couple of decades ago, cutting-edge products such as bungy jumping and Zorbing were developed, and that now was the time for more innovation.

” We may need to create space in the future tourism system for some new entrants and more innovation, type of business behavior. Those kinds of things are interesting and it gives you the idea that people think about the future in a pretty exciting way, ” he said.

The other message that came through clearly was that tourism businesses that attract kiwis should be “nature restorers,” England-Hall said.

“These kinds of things have come up in almost every conversation we’ve had, so there is a real alignment among all groups that we can create a tourism system that is better for everyone in the future.”

The sudden interruption of international and national tourism has put at least a quarter of the industry’s 400,000 visitors and related jobs at risk with thousands of already laid off employees.

England-Hall says it will get the results of an industry survey of the state of individual businesses next week, but it was clear that some operations had closed, others were in hibernation, reducing the number of employees while some were busy. -positioning for the domestic approach.

Attractions such as whitewater rafting and kayaking for foreign visitors may offer longer, more adventurous experiences for kiwis, who were often more fearless than foreign tourists.

He warned that the market would not necessarily be awash in attractions at bargain prices. With some out-of-business operations and increased local demand, prices would not necessarily fall.

You can imagine the kiwis planning their itineraries with the same care and attention as they did with traveling abroad to make the most of their local vacations.

“We cannot transform a sector that does not exist”

The government has set a tight timetable for a plan on what the sector could look like and how to promote it.

However, tourism is at a turning point.

“What is really important is if you are going to re-imagine the tourism system that you do need a tourism economy, and the tourism economy is currently zero right now, we are really starting from scratch,” says England. Room.

The wage subsidy was helping some companies survive, and Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis said the $ 100,000 flexible line of credit would also help tour operators.

The big question is when domestic tourism can go into effect with all non-essential travel actually banned at level 3 and the lack of clarity about what will be allowed at level 2.

Davis said Friday that he did not want to pre-empt any announcements, but the Aotearoa tourism industry is leading growing calls for a relaxation of nationwide vacation restrictions at Tier 2, saying it can be done safely. . The cabinet is working on details of what will be allowed below level 2 and a decision on whether to move to that will be announced next Monday.

• Covid19.govt.nz – The official government Covid-19 advisory website

England-Hall says it understands the industry’s need for clarity, but the timing of a restart was annoying.

“The government has to walk a line between the health and well-being of the community and the economic well-being.”

The timing of establishing a transtasman border bubble to allow relatively free movement between Australia and New Zealand was also in doubt.

England-Hall said that instead of focusing too much on its time, energy should now go towards establishing health technology and other logistics that would be necessary.

He said about half of TNZ’s staff was now focused on New Zealand, fueled by Bjoern Spreitzer’s appointment last week as general manager of a newly established home team.

He has worked at Tourism NZ for the past 14 years, most recently as Global Planning and Partnerships Manager and General Manager for America and Western Europe.

Your team will be structured similarly to TNZ’s offshore markets with public relations, marketing and trade resources.

While the focus has shifted to the domestic market, England-Hall said decades of work would be lost if TNZ “darkened” abroad and the country’s marketing to maintain awareness would continue.

While I couldn’t encourage tourism right now, it was important to keep New Zealand alive in the hearts and minds of those who want to visit in the future. In the meantime, this could skew New Zealand’s lifestyle promotion and exports, such as food and wine.

“We cannot afford to darken as a country, as it will slow down our recovery in three to five years.” We will put the focus and emphasis on the domestic market, but if we put all the resources here, it would be an excessive investment. ”