A boom in domestic tourism in Queenstown could cushion the damage of the border closure. Photo: Getty

PoliticsMarch 19, 2021

‘It can’t go back to how it was’: Nash signals new shape for post Covid-19 tourism

Contributing writer

A boom in domestic tourism in Queenstown could cushion the damage of the border closure. Photo: Getty

The government and tourism operators agree that change is needed, but they don’t agree on a solution. While the tourism minister is mulling smaller crowds, operators want more infrastructure to support visitors, Justin Giovannetti reports.

Tourism minister Stuart Nash headed to Queenstown with a little hope and a clear warning: though a travel bubble with Australia may be imminent, the industry needs to change quickly.

Speaking in a region that has seen one of its key industries teeter towards collapse over the past year following the Covid-19-forced closure of the country’s borders, Nash said that tourism had already been losing its social licence amid a surge of international visitors that was grinding down the country’s cities and picturesque nature.

“It can’t go back to how it was,” said Nash at a tourism conference.

“I believe that in a number of places, the industry was beginning to erode its social licence to operate, and therefore losing the community’s support for continued growth of the sort we were seeing.”

The minister added that some of the country’s natural beauty wasn’t really fitting the “100% pure” promise in recent years.

Nash’s speech joins a growing number of recent calls for an overhaul of the country’s tourism model, most recently in February when environment commissioner Simon Upton called for an end to mass tourism. In his report, Upton warned of the environmental and social damage being done to the country before Covid-19 hit.

The tourism industry is dealing with two issues simultaneously. One is urgent and immediate as businesses face bankruptcy. The second issue is a longer-term rebuild of the industry for a post-Covid world.

Nash promised the crowd that cabinet will be looking at a final proposal for a trans-Tasman bubble on Monday. A sudden influx of Australians could save a number of tour operators.

That was welcome news to the industry. “Three weeks ago it looked like a bubble was off the table, we’re just pleased its now back and things are moving at quite some speed,” said Chris Roberts, the chief executive of Tourism Industry Aotearoa. “This week we’re very optimistic but we’ve been here before and we’ve been disappointed before.”

Following a programme of emergency assistance last year, Nash teased some policy changes and assistance could allow companies to freeze their operations until visitors return. He ruled out a regional wage subsidy for businesses hoping for another big cash infusion.

Since taking the tourism portfolio after the last election, Nash has stressed that the country should look to attract “a better class of tourist…who flies business class or premium economy and hires a helicopter.” His language on Friday was more constrained, he only hinted strongly and frequently at smaller crowds, never quite calling for a hard pivot towards the wealthy.

According to the minister, a 2019 survey found that 78% of Queenstown residents thought there was too much pressure from international visitors. Tourists were causing traffic congestion, high rents, road accidents and staff shortages, he said.

That wasn’t news to the industry’s leaders sitting in the audience. They’ve seen the warning signs, but aren’t sure yet whether crowd numbers alone are the problem. Roberts, who heads the industry’s main association, said that the level of local concern has been clear to him – he commissioned the survey the minister quoted.

“People come here for the landscapes but go home talking about the people they’ve met. If we don’t have that welcoming culture we can’t be proud of that tourism product,” he said.

Instead of declaring the death of camper vans and the need to turn away planes full of economy class passengers, Roberts said that the solution could be found through building to meet demand.

“The answer won’t always be fewer people. It may be more about when they come, where they go and how we manage people in place, what infrastructure and procedures we have,” he said.

Part of the problem is a Department of Conservation that doesn’t have the resources to deal with crowd numbers, especially in places like the Milford Sound, Roberts said.

Nash revealed that DOC and other government agencies could look to hike fees substantially after Covid-19 recedes and visitors return. He said he’s asked for pricing strategies for public assets that make them “financially self-sustaining”.

That could mean a higher tourism levy at the border, more and higher local levies on visitors, as well as higher prices from DOC for using conservation lands and waters.

The tourism levy doesn’t currently apply to Australians. A missed opportunity, according to the minster.

“It is imperative that our tourism sector improves the wellbeing of New Zealanders and protects and restore our natural environment. This is needed in order to regain the social licence,” Nash said.

Keep going!

Papua New Guinea’s Defence Force staff in training for the Covid-19 response. Photo: WHO

OPINIONPoliticsMarch 19, 2021

Papua New Guinea faces a Covid-19 catastrophe. NZ is nowhere to be seen

Marion Crawshaw

Guest writer

Papua New Guinea’s Defence Force staff in training for the Covid-19 response. Photo: WHO

The picture looks increasingly like that of Italy a year ago. Australia is scrambling to provide support, but where is NZ, asks Marion Crawshaw, former NZ High Commissioner to PNG.

As the Covid-19 numbers in Papua New Guinea grow exponentially, Australia is scrambling to provide support. The support includes vaccines for frontline health workers, a large Medical Assistance Team, PPE, tents for isolation wards and a long list of other supplies. From what we know so far, Australia will be working on the ground with the PNG response system, WHO and Unicef. New Zealand appears to be unaccountably absent from this picture of urgent support required for a Pacific neighbour in trouble.

The alarming growth of Covid in PNG is relatively new although it might have been predicted given the very low testing numbers. The fact that recent cases are spread right across PNG’s provinces also raises suspicions that there has been unidentified spread in case numbers for a while. The picture looks increasingly like that of Italy a year ago, when initially small numbers of cases grew exponentially and eventually overwhelmed the health system in much of northern Italy.

PNG is accustomed to disasters. Its people are resilient and it has homegrown experts who know their complicated country and can work effectively within its cultures. The health system is, however, thin and fragile and serious concerns are already being raised that very soon it will be completely overcome. There are reports Port Moresby General hospital is already overwhelmed. The situation in provincial hospitals and health clinics is likely to be even more difficult given their very limited human and financial resources.

The dangers in this situation are not only PNG ones. Unmitigated spread of the virus appears to give rise to new variants that can make vaccines less effective. This could impact Australia and New Zealand. Spread is also a worry with respect to Solomon Islands, which is close to Bougainville and informal exchanges are common across the border.While PNG’s key regional relationship is with Australia with whom it shares important historical and geographical ties, New Zealand also has a long and strong relationship with PNG.

At any given time, PNG is either New Zealand’s largest aid partner or second largest reflecting both its development needs and its size. It is the largest Pacific nation geographically (larger than New Zealand) with a population between 8 and 9 million. New Zealand has been active across the years in providing support to PNG that goes well beyond the projects in the aid programme. We have a long security relationship and not just in Bougainville. We were a key support partner in PNG’s hosting of APEC in 2018 and we provided significant support during the disastrous magnitude 7.5 earthquake of 2018. It is therefore particular puzzling that we seem to be absent from this disaster.

There has been a tendency in recent years for New Zealand to define its Pacific relationship largely in terms of Polynesia. But even given that orientation, if this were a traditional security problem in PNG, New Zealand would have already activated its national security system to address the situation. If it hasn’t happened already, that needs to happen now.

Covid support to PNG needs to be undertaken in coordination with the PNG system and other partners, as Australia is doing but New Zealand needs to start an internal process of defining possible contributions. Defining a New Zealand contribution is no doubt more difficult because of the demands of our own Covid response. That said, a small Medical Assistance Team should be possible. PPE might be another area where we could contribute. New Zealand has options on a number of different vaccines which it now will not require having secured sufficient supplies of Pfizer. Could we release our option for purchase of Astra Zeneca to PNG? The Missionary Aviation Fellowship which has many New Zealanders on its staff is accustomed to flying into remote areas. Could we provide funding for MAF to fly medical supplies and vaccines into remote areas.

As a key Pacific partner with a reputation for coming to the party when trouble hits, New Zealand needs to move quickly to help address the situation in PNG.

Marion Crawshaw is a senior fellow in the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University of Wellington and a former New Zealand High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. This post originally appeared at Incline.