Government plans major shake up for the tourism industry post-Covid-19

Wednesday, 8 April 2020

A new international visitor levy will pay for tourism and conservation projects.

The tourism industry is in for a major shake up as the Government plans how it will operate post-Covid-19.

On Wednesday Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis announced that the Government and industry were working together on a plan to restart tourism which was likely to be a phased process.

He said the tourism industry would play an important role in New Zealand's economic recovery, but there would be a very different approach in future with more emphasis on financial sustainability.

'How we market domestically and internationally, who we market to, and how we manage visitors when they arrive on our shores.

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Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis says the Government is rethinking how it will spend the international visitor levy which was expected to raise $80m annually.

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'Given international travel is likely to be heavily restricted for some time, and features of our tourism industry such as cruise ships are currently banned, this will need to be a phased approach, looking at how we can focus on and promote domestic tourism in the short term and how we can target an international offering.

Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa general manager Graeme Abbot says the money from the international visitor levy should go into projects on the DOC estate to attract more Kiwi holidaymakers into the regions.

Davis said he expected to receive advice on the recovery plan in the next two weeks with Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) leading the project and getting input from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the Department of Conservation and industry.

The Government will also rethink its use of the $35 per head international visitor levy (IVL) that was estimated to raise up to $80m annually with the proceeds split between tourism and conservation.

An investment plan had been prepared and Davis said they would now look at how the levy could be best used to help rebuild the tourism industry as part of a restart package.'

TNZ chief executive Stephen England-Hall said the dramatic impact of coronavirus was an opportunity to address some of the concerns about the pressures tourism had placed on some communities.

'We have been given a scenario where we can not only incrementally but drastically shift the needle in a way we would not normally be able to do.

TNZ's remit was previously to promote New Zealand internationally, and England-Hall said he was confident its expertise could be applied in the domestic context until overseas visitors returned.

Chief executive of Hanmer Springs thermal pools and spa Graeme Abbot said TNZ would need to make sure it got the right advice from the right sources.

'[They need] to talk to some of the bigger domestic players who have been in the market for some time, as opposed to where they normally get their information from, which is those who are in the international market.

'It's going to be 100 per cent domestic for the next 12 months and that needs a whole lot of different scenarios, pricing strategies, and [different] levels of expectation from New Zealand customers versus internationals.'

Abbot said he would like to see money from the IVL go into building infrastructure on the DOC estate to create jobs and attract domestic, and later international, visitors into the regions.

Regional Tourism Organisations New Zealand (RTONZ) chief executive Charlie Ives said local government as well as businesses and RTOs should have a say on the recovery plan.

'Local government is the largest investor in tourism at a local level if you think about roading, three waters, stadiums and museums; their investment is huge, it eclipses what cental government puts into tourism.'

Tourism Industry Aotearoa said it looked forward to participating in the project and chief executive Chris Roberts said it was essential the private sector was involved at the very centre of discussions, from the beginning.

'The 'new tourism' is not something the Government can design and then impose on the industry. This has to be a genuine government-industry partnership, or it will fail.

'We can do better in managing congestion, pressure on the environment and other issues. We now have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take a fresh look at our industry, to shape tourism for the benefit of Aotearoa and our people,' Roberts said.