Uncertainty over the return of international tourists remains after two years of Covid. Photo / Supplied
Chris Roberts headed the country's biggest tourism industry organisation during the time when the industry roared up a mountain — then fell off a cliff.
As chief executive of Tourism Industry Aotearoa, he's been at the heart of the sector's most tumultuous period.
He formally finishes at the at the end of the month after seven and a half years, replaced by Rebecca Ingram, who like Roberts moved into the role after a top job at Tourism NZ.
Roberts says he experienced the best and the worst of times for the industry which, pre-Covid, had climbed to pip dairy as New Zealand's top foreign exchange earner.
"It certainly hasn't been pleasant for the last two years but there's a lot of positives to look back on."
Among its industry responsibilities, TIA lobbies the government and Roberts has worked with tourism ministers from PM John Key, who rode a wave of incredible growth in international arrivals and spending, to current minister Stuart Nash, who inherited an industry in crisis.
Roberts comes from a background in radio journalism, Beehive and corporate communications. He's more diplomatic than others in the industry in assessing Nash's performance.
"Every minister has been different and the current minister came in with a lot of enthusiasm and laid out what he saw was the priorities."
Nash had come to understand the industry much more over the past year.
"It's probably quite difficult to come into this Covid environment, but I think if you were to take a poll of the tourism industry, he wouldn't be high in the popularity of stakes," says Roberts.
There's a communications job that needs doing.
Roberts met with Nash reasonably regularly and "he has very good intentions but for whatever reason that hasn't been translated into a profile that the industry understands and they do struggle with it."
Speaking before taking a much-anticipated summer break — with no firm job plans on the horizon — Roberts says the industry knows that there's a lot on the Government's plate and at Cabinet level it is having to make trade-offs and address priorities.
"But what we would hope for is that there's at least one person there at the Cabinet table that's advocating on our behalf. And I believe that is happening, but it's possibly not something that has been communicated well to the industry."
While the broader economy had proven surprisingly resilient during the past two years of the pandemic, border-facing industries had been devastated.
Figures out last year show 72,000 tourism workers lost their jobs in the first year of the pandemic.
To the end of March last year, 146,295 people were employed in the sector — a decrease of 33.1 per cent (72,285 people) from the previous year.
With borders closing to international visitors from the end of March 2020, holiday arrivals fell by 1.8 million — 99.9 per cent.
Total tourism expenditure was $26.1 billion, a decrease of 37.3 per cent ($15.6b) from the previous year.
International tourism expenditure decreased by 91.5 per cent ($16.2b) to $1.5b, the Stats NZ data showed.
Roberts says TIA accepted the challenges the Government has faced over relaxing border settings, which for a few months last year eased to allow some Australian visitors in before an MIQ failure led to the four-month Auckland lockdown
"Government border restrictions are for them to deal with but there's no doubt from our point of view that if these are going to remain in place, businesses which are impacted by that closed border are going to need targeted support."
There has been talk of this but no firm signs from the Government.
"The support that's been there through the wage subsidy and the resurgence support payment has now gone and yet, for many of our tourism businesses, they're no better off than they were previously, so in fact now they're worse off because they don't have their government support anymore."
Many tourism businesses were better off under lockdown.
"The Government's made decisions to keep New Zealanders safe but the consequences of that is some businesses are bearing the brunt of that and they deserve a helping hand because they are being sacrificed to keep the rest of us safe."
Some businesses are bearing the brunt of that and they deserve a helping hand because they are being sacrificed to keep the rest of us safe
Some of the stories he had heard from operators who had lost everything were heart-breaking.
To those who say he must be exhausted and need a rest after two years of being a prominent face of the industry, he tells them that is nothing compared to what those business owners have been through.
"They've just seen their life's work melting away in front of their eyes through no fault of their own. The macro numbers tell a certain story, but it's the personal stories and the team here get to hear those directly from operators virtually every day."
Roberts started in the TIA job in 2014 as momentum was coming back into the industry that had been stalled since the global financial crisis.
It had just produced a strategic framework — Tourism 2025 — which had some ambitious goals that were then in the aspirational basket.
Then all of a sudden favorable winds built: growing middle class wealth around the globe; a boom in air services; and relatively cheap airfares to New Zealand, which was in a sweet spot, offering great scenery and authentic experiences. International tourism growth was running close to 20 per cent at one stage.
"We were outperforming that global growth and then of course there were the much-documented problems that started to bring with it. We did get the speed wobbles to some degree and we all know the stories of the snake line of people going up over the Tongariro Alpine Crossing or the queue of people trying to have their Instagram moment at Roy's Peak."
But the industry had recognised that it was running too hot and was taking steps to address it.
"We couldn't continue at those double-digit numbers — we were taking the initiative with the Go with Tourism Programme which was trying to address long term perceptions about working in tourism and we had launched the tourism sustainability commitment in 2017.
Growth was levelling off in 2018 and 2019.
"There was there was a strong commitment to creating a more sustainable industry so I do get a little dismayed when there's an attempt to rewrite history and almost see Covid as something that has put an 'out of control industry' in its place," he says.
Almost exactly two years ago, Roberts had just paid for his family's first overseas holiday in five years when the news of a new coronavirus started emerging from China.
''It happened so rapidly. My first discussions with government were about when they closed the border to China, and what the implications of that might be, but we were thinking solely about the New Zealand China relationship at that point. And then Italy was next and every day, every week, the situation changed.''
Then the border closed.
Apart from the brief transtasman bubble, inbound tourism has stopped completely and exceeded worst case scenarios time and time again.
Although the looming Omicron outbreak may eventually lead to a relaxation in border settings to put this country more in sync with others, last year's announcements on re-opening were ''opaque'' says Roberts.
It was unclear then how staged re-introduction of isolation-free travel would work and apart from the delayed relaxation of transtasman travel there has been nothing from the Government since.
''We're now almost two years on from when this started and the outlook for international arrivals into New Zealand is almost as bleak as it's been at any stage,'' he says.
But it's not all grim. Pre-pandemic, domestic travel made up about 60 per cent of tourism revenue and some areas were booming.
''I think we have to acknowledge that some tourism businesses are doing very well thank you. They're places that were largely domestic destinations anyway, and are close to population centres.''
Places like the Wairarapa - close to Wellington, which has been spared long Auckland-style lockdowns - have been doing well.
Businesses associated with cycle trails were also enjoying good times.
''Kiwis have got out there in the fresh air and have discovered our amazing cycle trail network. So it's not all doom and gloom. We have to recognise that.''
Some of the $7b to $9b a year spent on overseas trips was now being spent on seeing New Zealand.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's latest tourism electronic card transaction (TECT) data shows spending in the year ended November 2021 was up 15 per cent from the previous year. This annual growth was driven by food and beverage services, which was up 20 per cent.
Domestic spending increased in all regions in the year compared with the same periods in 2019 and 2020.
The Tasman region had the highest annual increase (up 38 per cent) from the year ending in November 2020, while the Auckland region had the lowest growth (up 6 per cent) due to tighter activity and movement restrictions compared with the rest of the country.
Roberts says businesses in the regions that were heavily reliant on international visitors can only re-orient to the domestic market to a certain degree.
''We've repeatedly seen businesses celebrating that they've got back to 50 per cent of the previous revenue. Pre-Covid, businesses would be alarmed if the revenue dropped by 2 per cent or 3 per cent. And now they're breathing a sigh of relief that they've at least got half the revenue they used to have.''
New TIA chief executive Rebecca Ingram takes up the role in March.
Ingram joins TIA from seven years at Tourism New Zealand (TNZ), where she has held various roles including most recently as general manager of New Zealand and government relations.
Previously she was responsible for INZ's PR and major events team, leading staff across 14 markets.
She has over 15 years in marketing and communications, including time at both Spark (then Telecom) and Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand.
Ingram said she was excited to be joining TIA at a critical time in the tourism industry's history.
"Tourism touches every corner of New Zealand. It brings vibrancy to our towns and cities, and opportunity and financial security to thousands of New Zealanders. I am looking forward to joining TIA at this critical time in the industry's history and playing an active role in the re-emergence of tourism for the benefit of Aotearoa," Ingram says.
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