Finance Minister Grant Robertson has admitted New Zealand's tourism industry will be very different to what it was pre-Covid-19, but yesterday's comparatively small investment in the sector isn't a reflection of that, he said.
Mr Robertson announced a $400 million investment in tourism in yesterday's Budget which was on the smaller end of the planned spending by the Government to help New Zealand's economy post-lockdown.
The Finance Minister told TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning said other parts of the Budget boil over into the tough challenges tourism in New Zealand faces though.
"The extension to the wage subsidy scheme is in large part targeted at the tourism industry because we know that they along with retail and hospitality are certainly not operating anywhere near where they have been and in the case of tourism, hardly at all," Mr Robertson said.
"That first $400 million is actually about helping tourism businesses re-orientate themselves, think about the transitions they need to make and securing the assets in the tourism industry that we do want to be there.
Mr Robertson added the $400 million was only an "initial contribution" with the Government already putting together a tourism industry recovery plan in partnership with the industry to help the sector rebound.
"The people I talk to in the tourism industry absolutely understand that the industry will not be the same again, certainly not for many years if ever, because even when our borders do eventually open again, the many millions of tourists who have come to New Zealand probably won't return in those numbers.
"So the industry does need to reimagine, it does need to re-orientate and so yesterday is our first contribution towards doing that."
Mr Robertson said other parts of the Budget - such as the free trades training - will also help those industry who will no longer have jobs due to the pandemic.
"Absolutely, when we look at the people we're targeting to move in to those new jobs to retrain, we know that some of them will be coming from that tourism sector."
With that said though, the Finance Minister said he's not giving up on those who will remain in the struggling industry either.
"I'm not prepared to just stand on the sidelines and let industries wither away - there is potential for our tourism industry.
"The possibilities are there... the industry does need to change but we're there to support them."
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