Fears thousands of homeless and ignorant tourists will break lockdown rules

Wednesday, 25 March 2020

Backpackers Julian Klein-Peters, left, Amandine Norin, Mia Zeh and Hannah Noeske-Heisinger with their vehicles in the Montgomery Carpark in Nelson.

The Government has been urged to step up assistance stranded travellers as the true scale of those stranded becomes apparent.

Desperate travellers unable to get flights out of the country are being forced to 'shelter in place' with some unable to afford to pay for the unplanned extension to their holiday.

Overseas visitors were turning up at holiday parks wanting to book a single night, not realising they would have to stay for four weeks.

The scale of the problem which was brought home by recent Stats NZ's figures suggesting that as of late March there were between 240,00 and 260,000 overseas visitors in New Zealand.

**READ MORE:

From Thursday tours like these will be off the road as strict new rules come into force to combate Covid-19.

* Coronavirus: Thousands of stranded travellers left in limbo as airlines shut down

* Coronavirus: Potentially more than 100,000 tourists still here

* Coronavirus: Thousands of stranded travellers left in limbo as airlines shut down

Luis Domenech Garcia runs Travel Cars in Grey Lynn, Auckland and he has been inundated with backpackers desperate to sell their vehicles before heading home due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. ' If I don't buy them and if there are no New Zealanders buying them, they have to scrap the car, sell them for parts. Some backpackers just leave their car at the airport.'

* Coronavirus: Full coverage**

Once visiting New Zealand citizens are deducted from the total, that still leaves more than 200,000 overseas visitors, which Tourism Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts said was much higher than previous estimates..

Waikato woman Katy Vaurabourg-Fisher is asking people to help provide temporary accomodation for backpackers from France, stranded in New Zealand.

Even allowing for those staying with friends and family, a lot of people would need accommodation for the duration of the four week lockdown.

Roberts said it was not unusual for overseas visitors who did not follow local media to be unaware of the new rules about social distancing and the ban on travel.

'If people are still moving around the country or have not got anywhere to stay, they need to be gently but firmly guided to some accommodation and stay put. '

Forty-five hotels have offered 5000 rooms for self isolation, about half the country's holiday parks remained open, and TIA was collating a list of commercial accommodation providers prepared to offer accommodation for four weeks.

Roberts said it was important the those who had had run out of money did not end up sleeping in their cars.

MBIE is running a temporary accommodation service for visitors (phone 0508 754 163) and by Wednesday afternoon it had received 47 enquiries and placed nine people

The accommodation was not free but those who could not afford to pay would still be found a suitable place to stay, an MBIE spokesman said.

Queenstown Holiday Park Creeksyde owner Erna Pijkerposch has had travellers turning up wanting to stay a single night and they were surprised to learn they would have to stay four weeks.

She had checked in about 30 people, including those in non-self contained vehicles who would stay in cabins and motels, and all communal facilities, other than the laundry had been closed off.

Backpacker hostels are also tweaking their operations to meet guided lines for self isolation.

YHA chief executive Mark Wells said their hostels in Auckland Wellington and Queenstown had been busier than expected and it could end up with up to 200 spending four weeks in lock down.

Guests would stay in single rooms not dorms and would be allocated specific times to use kitchen facilities with their own set of utensils.

The expectation was that guests would comply with the lock down and YHA would notify authorities if they did not.

Belinda Hargreaves has eight guests staying in her Rotorua hostel and 16 in two houses in Kaikoura, and she said they were happy to abide by the lock down rules.

'They're like a family they're in their own bubble.

'A lot of them are terrified and relieved to find somewhere to stay because they're on their own in a strange country.'