Tourism boss says Fox Glacier chopper crash widely felt

The wreckage of the helicopter. Photo / NZ Police

A tourism leader says the helicopter tragedy at Fox Glacier has been felt by the whole industry and crash investigators need to establish the cause quickly.

But Tourism Holdings chief executive Grant Webster said the accident on Saturday was not likely to harm the country's reputation or the wider tourist industry.

"Any loss of life is dreadful, when it happens in the tourist industry it hits us very hard and there's a focus on adventure tourism and safety," he said after the company's annual meeting.

Four Britons, two Australians, and a local pilot died when the Alpine Adventures helicopter crashed into a deep crevasse in the glacier on the South Island West Coast glacier on Saturday.

"Will it have a direct impact? I don't think so."

Webster said while the country had a good safety record and he said the Transport Accident Investigation Commission needed to quickly establish the cause of the crash.

His company's main business is rental motor homes and in the past few weeks it has started installing tablets in them which use fleet management techniques to communicate with drivers to make them safer.

If they are speeding or heading for low bridges drivers are told, initially in a "very polite" way, but repeated offending can result in breaches of terms and conditions of the hire.

While it can't detect if drivers are on the wrong right side of the road, the equipment was still a useful road safety tool.

The Auckland-based company forecasts net profit of some $22 million in the year ending June 30, 2016, up from $20.1 million in the past year.