Kiwi ski industry hopeful over Covid-19 outbreak

Treble Cone skifield. Photo / Supplied

Chinese ski resorts are opening up again, following the Covid-19 outbreak, and that is seen as a hopeful sign for the ski industry here.

Cardrona Alpine Resort and Treble Cone skifield general manager Bridget Legnavsky said she had her "fingers crossed" that by the time the ski season began there would be "some understanding" of the outbreak.

"If we are still in it, it's going to really affect the ski season."

Ms Legnavsky said the ski industry was "a little bit luckier" than the tourism industry in that its main market was Australia and New Zealand.

"So we will hopefully be a little bit more protected. But we certainly do rely more and more on our Chinese visitors, especially to get that growth, because the domestic market has been quite stagnant for quite a long time."

The Chinese market, although "still quite small", was seen as an opportunity to grow the industry, "to get the step change that we need to develop Soho".

The Soho Basin is a largely undeveloped ski area next to the Cardrona resort.

A handful of passengers arriving from Australia at Queenstown Airport yesterday were sporting face masks to combat the coronavirus, and extra hand sanitiser dispensers were in place around the airport.