Government's targeted tourism funding leaves North Island operators out in the cold

OpenRoad motorcycle tours targeted overseas visitors before the pandemic. Photo / Supplied

Anger is mounting at the Government's decision to target five South Island tourist regions with a $49 million kick-starter programme rather than help the industry across the country.

Those in other parts of the country have been left out of the fund available for southern businesses that are ready to scale up operations or come out of hibernation to prepare for the return of international visitors.

Tourism Minister Stuart Nash announced last week that operators in Fiordland, Queenstown and Wanaka, Kaikōura, the glacier region of Westland and Mackenzie District-Aoraki Mt Cook are eligible for the support.

Northland motorbike touring business Open Road says it thought the entire sector was getting a break when the announcement was made - until it saw the help was confined to the five regions.

''So it was with anger and disbelief we saw that this relief package is again not open to the whole country. The fact the whole of the North Island is ineligible certainly made a WTF moment,'' said the firm's co-owner Lance Mitchell.

''We don't deny that Queenstown has done it hard, but so have we all. How can the Government in all conscience overlook the entire North Island?''

The funding should be open to any tourism business that fits the criteria - a high reliance on international tourism - not just certain areas, he said.

Queenstown's plight had got considerable publicity but Mitchell said many other parts of the country felt ignored.

''At least they [the South Island] have had some local business, we have had zero.''

Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) and the Auckland Tourism Regional Forum have called for a rethink on the funding.

Tourism Minister Stuart Nash said tonight the South Island regions were chosen for special support because of their high reliance on international visitors and the relative lack of economic diversity in the districts.

Almost half of the 2021 Tourism Communities package was also made available to regions outside the five South Island districts, he said.

OpenRoad provided boutique guided motorcycle tours for international tourists before the pandemic but has had just one client in the past two years. In spite of trying, it couldn't pivot to the domestic market.

''We have had to mothball our business while retaining our fleet of motorcycles until such time when we can reopen - if we can reopen. Our mental health and our financial health have suffered. All through this pandemic, we have continually been kicked when we're down.''

Nash announced last week tourism businesses that existed before the global pandemic are eligible for grants worth two weeks of pre-Covid revenue, between $10,000 and $50,000 each, if they had a 50 per cent drop in annual revenue compared to 2019-2020 levels.

The grants could be used to refresh facilities or marketing, train and hire new staff, or source new stock in readiness for opening and will be administered by five South Island agencies.

Tourism minister Stuart Nash says fund is for regions with high reliance on overseas visitors. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Nash says the Government has invested $600 million in targeted support to the tourism sector, on top of broad-based support through the wage subsidy, resurgence support payment and other funds to support jobs and businesses.

Funding of some big ''strategic'' tourism businesses, some owned by rich-listers, came in for criticism in 2020.

TIA communications manager Ann-Marie Johnson said the kick-start funds should be extended to more regions.

The fund was created a year ago, pending the reopening of New Zealand's borders.

After another summer of reduced trade, many tourism businesses across the whole country would easily meet the kick-start criteria of a 50 per cent drop in annual revenue compared to 2019-20 levels.

TIA wants a further $100 million of kick-start grants available to tourism operators across New Zealand.

One potential source of funds is as-yet unspent money from the Government's $200m Tourism Communities Support, Recovery and Re-set Plan, said Johnston.

"An investment in the industry by the Government at this point will be amply repaid in tourism's renewed contribution to our economy and our communities.

Gavin Oliver, co-founder of EcoZip Adventures, chairman of the Auckland Tourism Regional Forum, said he wholly supported TIA's push to broaden the funding.

''While the five regions in the kick-start programme may be less economically diverse, and therefore more heavily reliant on tourism the impact of the border closure has been devastating nationally.''

The programme, in its current form, essentially penalises tourism businesses for being in places such as Hawke's Bay, Rotorua or Auckland, he said.

''The impact of the border closure on these businesses has been no less acute than on their peers in the kick-starter regions.''