In 2000 New Zealand hosted 30,000 visitors from China, and that had increased more than tenfold by the time the pandemic saw them shut out a year ago.
The Tourism Export Council wants the Government to stump up another $200 million in support and warns key businesses will fail if further help is not forthcoming. A briefing prepared for Tourism Minister Stuart Nash said targetted restart grants to cover wages and fixed costs were desperately needed for operators who pre-Covid relied on the international market for more than 70 per cent of their customers or income . Tourism Export Council (TEC) chief executive Lynda Keene said there was the very real prospect of such businesses closing if the borders remained closed to long haul visitors this year, and those in the inbound tour and the transport sectors were both seriously at risk.