Our borders may be slowly reopening, but in the struggling tourist town of Te Anau, there is little confidence.
A Government-funded Jobs for Nature programme has been keeping workers’ pay packets topped up since the Covid pandemic saw visitor numbers tank.
There is a call for an extension to a project to give some financial security until the tourists return.
Scenic flight operator, Wings & Water, show breath-taking bird’s eye views for customers over Fiordland National Park.
But chief executive Kylie Krippner says customers are thin on the ground.
“We’ve got one [trip today], so they’ve just gone out and when they get back, we’re hopeful someone will wander down the street here.”
The pain felt across Te Anau
New figures from Southland’s regional development organisation, Great South, show the average visitor numbers are down more than 80 per cent on three years ago.
Spending is also down more than 60 per cent and roughly $7 million is lost every month without international tourists.
Operators are not convinced the gradual easing of border restrictions will change anything.
Krippner says she is “not terribly hopeful.”
“…Just for the fact that while people have to do this lengthy isolation period, it’s not really a carrot that tourists are wanting to take to come here.”
So, during the lull, operators are going bush, dealing to nasty weeds which threaten the same environment they show to the world.
Local tourism operator Martin Slíva said his customers were “100 per cent from overseas”.
“So, basically, it cut my income immediately.”
He’s now out trying to stop the invasive weeds spreading into the national park.
“If this stuff jumps over there, nobody will be able to control it.”
The Jobs for Nature programme is a financial lifeline for Russell Davie too, who has suffered in the accommodation and tourism sector in the region.
“I think it has been vital for the town… it’s allowed us to retain a skill base which would have to move if we didn’t have the money. It’s got us through two winters and we’ve been able to retain people so, that when tourism picks up again, in the great whenever, we will have people available.”
The work, known as the Fiordland Buffer Zone Project, covers a one-kilometre-wide buffer zone, stretching from Manapouri in the south to Milford Sound-Piopiotahi in the north.
But with operators uncertain about the future despite our borders opening up, they want long-term funding for the project.
Krippner believes it should be extended for a further two years.
“I think [that] would be really good because it will take two years for the numbers to bounce back but people need to get organised in their businesses, people need to get staff, people need to get staff trained so when things return to full throttle.”
While there are no plans to extend this project, the Department of Conservation told 1News, there are several other Jobs for Nature programmes in the area which will continue until 2024.
For the people of Te Anau, it is hoped tourism will have taken off by then.
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