Surprise, surprise – After needing us over Covid the Hyper Tourism industry dumps on Kiwis…
Newly minted Tourism Minister Peeni Henare’s suggestion that Kiwis could pay less than tourists has been shot down by one tourism operator.
On Monday, the NZ Herald reports Henare flagged his concern about “extreme” price rises seen with some tourism operators.
“I do think prices are steep at the moment.”
While the Minister said he appreciates operators were recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, he expects prices to drop as tourism begins to pick up.
“But it is one of those things I’ll be monitoring closely. As important as it is to talk to the operators, it’s just as important to talk to the consumers and many are saying things are expensive.”
But Henare’s suggestion that Kiwis could pay less than tourists hasn’t hit the mark with Queenstown’s Ziptrek Ecotour executive director Trent Yeo.
Yeo told AM everyone is worried about the prices of everything, but believes there is a lot on offer that is accessible for Kiwis.
Yeo is concerned it will become “complex” and “hard to deliver fairly” if there are different price points between Kiwis and visitors.
…the hyper tourism industry prior to Covid saw 4 million tourists a year coming and gridlocking our groaning underfunded infrastructure and the hyper tourism market didn’t;t give a fuck.
Then Covid hit and closed the borders and the hyper tourism industry were forced to lower their astronomical costs and beg Kiwis to use them, now the borders are open again, the hyper tourism industry is straight back to their prices that lock domestic customers out.
Charming.
Hyper tourism is a plague.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media
The NZ petit bourgeoisie wailed like a stuck Tsunami alarm every day throughout the initial COVID pandemic.
Measures which saved thousands of lives were keeping some of these prats from opening their cafes and flying at will around the world. Meanwhile thousands were stuck in confined living quarters keeping the supermarkets open and the infrastructure functioning.
SMEs and corporates also received many millions of dollars from working class NZers which we will never see back until Rogernomics is finally booted. So jet boat operators and the rest can go…you know what…
This country has to stop being a theme park for mass tourism.
The press simply hides the obvious fact: Tourism is a low-wage, low value-added industry that never turned any country into a wealthy great power. The countries that are totally reliant on tourism have all remained as Third World hellholes.
On the other hand, a wealthy advanced economy is one with vast modern industry — and notice how those countries still attract masses of tourists. Arguably they attract a broader range of visitors, as such countries can afford more attractions and better cultural activities.
We need all the Hobbit s we can get.
Many of these tourist businesses are small family owned businesses just the same as the ma and pa owned rental properties.
They are not social agentcies and so should not be required to charge less to anyone .They do not owe locals anything as they need to make a profit to stay in business and pay taxes that oil the wheels of government .
Comments are closed.