Mayor of Mackenzie District, Graham Smith, is calling on the Government to "front up" and provide more support to businesses in his region, which is usually bursting with tourists.
In New Zealand, about 400,000 jobs directly or indirectly rely on tourism, and already some are being lost due to major upheaval to the sector caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Smith told TVNZ1's Breakfast today that the Government needs to continue with its wage subsidies to keep affected tourism businesses afloat when domestic tourism kicks back into life.
"I'm sure our businesses are strong enough to withstand it and I just hope with some more Government support they can manage and see a way through," he said.
"Bear in mind that Mackenzie relied on probably in the vicinity of 60 to 70 per cent of offshore tourism, there needs a transition time to put the focus back on the domestic market.
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"The Government probably just needs to front up and help those businesses over this hard period.
"I'm talking some continuation of some subsidies to be able to keep jobs and keep those businesses going. There will be a new normal, it won't be business as they know it, but they do need time to adapt."
Especially in Tekapo, there's usually bus and campervan loads of tourists passing through during a normal day, spending at the local businesses.
However, Mr Smith said, "it's a dead street at the moment while we transition again to a new recovery and target our domestic market".
"It's important that we, as many as possible, can survive and I'm sure they will. They're extremely resilient. Mackenzie is still here in all its glory."
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