The response was “very distressing”, he said.
Debbie Jamieson/Stuff
Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Jim Boult with MP Stuart Nash, during Nash s 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 on their plates to worry about. There will come a time to discuss it in the future but right now it’s on hold.”
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Friday, 18 December, 2020 - 12:09
TaupÅ District Mayor David Trewavas has welcomed the announcement from Tourism Minister Stuart Nash outlining $3.75m in government funding to support events that will encourage visitors to TaupÅ, Rotorua, Ruapehu and Waikato.
The funding is part of the $50m Regional Events Fund which aims to stimulate domestic tourism and travel, and will support the development of events along the ‘Thermal Explorer Highway’.
Mayor David Trewavas said the funding was the first to be announced from the Regional Events Fund and showed the importance of collaboration across communities. Our local Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) and councils have worked together to put forward an investment plan that will be an important piece of our tourism recovery puzzle.
ANDY JACKSON/STUFF/Stuff
More visitor user charges are proposed as a means to pay tourism costs met by taxpayers and ratepayers. Any further direct support should be given as loans rather than grants to share the risk between the taxpayer and the businesses involved, the report says. Roberts said $160m of the STAPP funding was locked up as potential loans for 130 previously selected businesses, most of whom received a $500,000 government grant and only planned to draw down the loan as a last resort. “That s $160m that could be spent helping the industry now.” He hoped the Government did not rule out direct assistance in the future as there were still many unknowns as the country headed into 2021, including the opening of borders.
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Education Minister Chris Hipkins says the proposal had merit but changes have to be agreed on years in advance. Some changes had been made due to Covid-19, including changing the end date of term one, and schools already had some flexibility for setting their holiday dates. “Terms and holidays are currently set, based on principles agreed by the sector, with notice years in advance,” he said. Rolling start dates are common in parts of Europe and in Australia, where school holidays vary by state. Their introduction in New Zealand could benefit families as well as businesses, he said.