Kaikōura Whale Watch to return buoyed by $1.5 million government boost

Wednesday, 10 June 2020

A $1.5 million Government funding boost helped Whale Watch Kaikōura set a July 4 date to resume its tourism operation.

Whale Watch Kaikōura will be back on the water next month, buoyed by a $1.5 million Government tourism rescue grant to help it navigate the domestic market.

Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis, accompanied by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, made the funding announcement in Kaikōura on Wednesday.

Davis said Whale Watch Kaikōura was one of New Zealand’s “best known, iconic” tourism businesses providing millions of people with whale encounters off the Kaikōura coast for more than 30 years.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis brought some good news to Kaikōura on Wednesday.

“By safeguarding this key destination tourism asset, we are also providing vital support to the Kaikōura community,” Davis said.

The support funding of up to $1.5 million will come from the Government's strategic tourism assets protection programme, set up to help key industry players recover from the impacts of the Covid-19 shutdown.

Whale Watch Kaikōura will receive up to $1.5 million in funding as part of the Government's $400 million targeted tourism recovery fund.

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“By the Government supporting Whale Watch Kaikōura we are also supporting the region, who are still getting on their feet from the 2016 earthquake.”

Whale Watch Kaikōura has been operating for more than 30 years.

Whale Watch Kaikōura general manager Kauahi Ngapora said he was stoked about the funding.

In May, Whale Watch Kaikōura general manager Kauahi Ngapora said he expected coronavirus to hit 'harder and deeper' than the 2016 earthquake.

'We’ve got 40 permanent staff so our focus has been being able to maintain our team, while we try to navigate Covid.

“We’re quite rapt to announce that on the fourth of July we will start whale watching again and target the domestic market.

“That’s about 103 days since lockdown … if we go back and compare that to the earthquake, that was 49 days.”

He said it would be challenging, as the domestic market made up about 20 per cent of the business.

“The majority of our business comes from the international market, but this funding is going to help us navigate that until such time as the borders reopen.

'It’s a matter of getting through this period. We’ll have a play with our domestic market and this funding will be able to help us have a good crack.'

Jacinda Ardern said of the roughly 180,000 visitors that came to the Kaikōura region annually, 100,000 visited Whale Watch Kaikōura.

“So this is what we call critical tourism infrastructure, it’s supporting the wider regional economy, which is why it is one of the places that we have prioritised supporting.

“This funding will mean that quality jobs are retained and it will mean being able to pivot towards the domestic market and be able to keep the operation and assets ready to go for when we do open up our borders.

“While our borders remain closed as our first line of defence against Covid-19, there are strategic tourism assets across the country we can’t afford to lose.”

Applications for the Strategic Tourism Assets Protection Programme close on June 18.