A visitor explores Franz Josef Glacier. “To spend money coming here to tell us nothing it’s ridiculous. We need help to keep our staff on and to be able to pay our rates and insurance,” she said. Tunnah said the offer of $5000 worth of advice through the $10 million Regional Business Partners network would not help cover her overheads. “We are asking help to survive,” she said.
Tourism and Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash says the Government can not save every struggling tourism business. “I paid $6 million just in wages here in Franz and $1m in PAYE. Why wouldn’t they want to support us to get our doors open. They just don’t get it,” she said.
Tourism Minister Stuart Nash and region s MP Damien O Connor to meet struggling West Coast businesses nzherald.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nzherald.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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The Kawatiri Coastal Trail will be a 55km walking and cycling track between Westport and Charleston on the West Coast.
House prices in parts of the West Coast are through the roof and some cycle trail businesses have reported double the customers since the Covid-19 pandemic began, despite tough times in the glacier country. West Coast Scenic Waterways owner Cindy Hopper said her accommodation and boat cruise business near Hokitika had experienced “huge growth” in the past year. Domestic tourists made up about 85 per cent of her customers before the pandemic hit.
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Cindy and Gavin Hopper moved from Auckland to the West Coast to set up West Coast Scenic Waterways, offering paddle boat cruises and kayaking on Lake Mahinapua.