Nik Kiddle News Today

Tourism and hospitality operators have let out for a cry for help as the trans-Tasman bubble pause dashes hopes of a winter visitor influx.

Hotels are restricting the number of rooms they can book during the busy ski season, while bars and restaurants are reducing hours and menus.

Or rather Queenstown Airport is ready to receive. After more than a year of crippling financial uncertainty for many businesses in the once buzzing tourist resort, there is light at the end of the border closed tunnel. Photo: 123rf The first trans-Tasman bubble flight is due to land in Queenstown this afternoon (about 2pm, though could be earlier) and Queenstowners are ... cautiously optimistic. While there will be a celebratory mood at the airport to welcome the flight, including the district ...

The town has gone from being tourism's crown jewel to a community facing vitriol.

Queenstown businesses respond to online hate: Please be kind Tuesday, March 16, 2021 RNZ Queenstown has gone from being described as tourisms crown jewel to a community facing vitriol - and told its getting what it deserves. Businesses say its not just the iconic destination thats been in the cross-hairs of online hate, with the tourism sector also copping a lot of flak. Heres just a sample of some of the social media hate Queenstown businesses have faced recently: "Queenstown h...

Photo: 123rf Businesses say its not just the iconic destination thats been in the cross-hairs of online hate, with the tourism sector also copping a lot of flak. Heres just a sample of some of the social media hate Queenstown businesses have faced recently: "Queenstown have made their own bed and now they have to lie in it. No pity from someone who like everyone else was overcharged in that town." "Yes, we get it. Queenstown didnt have a Plan B and now the place is choking. Boo hoo. The whole g...

The response was “very distressing”, he said. Debbie Jamieson/Stuff Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Jim Boult with MP Stuart Nash, during Nashs first visit to Queenstown as Tourism Minister. “It’s extremely unfair for anyone to lift this spectre above our heads again. We’re on the ropes. We’ve got enough to fight for.” Boult said accommodation providers should not panic as there was no plan to introduce a bill in the near future. “I think everybody has plenty of other things...