Ryan Anderson/Stuff Cook Islands hotel owner Richard Vinsen says the past 15 months had been difficult but he's hopeful the NZ travel bubble will revive their fortunes. Tourism operators in the Cook Islands are not expecting to see light at the end of the tunnel just yet after travel resumed with New Zealand, and are anxiously awaiting visitor numbers to pick up in the next few months. Hotel owners such as Richard Vinsen, who runs Manuia Beach Resort, on Rarotonga, said they'd been dealing with a lot of uncertainty for the past 15 months, and the next year would be the same.