Covid-19 “More Challenging” than the Earthquake – Kaikoura Tour Operators

Kaikōura companies only gravitate near the city’s bleak tourist prospects if the borders are not opened to international visitors by summer.

The location of the Adelphi Hotel was demolished. The hotel needed to strengthen earthquakes before the earthquake
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King

The number of visitors only returned to normal after the 7.8 earthquake in 2017, forcing one of the city’s biggest attractions Whalewatch Kaikōura to close its doors.

However, General Manager Kauahi Ngapora said that the fallout of Covid-19 was worse.

“Nothing can prepare you for zero revenue, so it doesn’t matter how great your plan is, I think this kind of scenario with Covid-19 is something different. It is definitely more challenging than we saw in the earthquake.”

Whalewatch takes no reservations until the end of the month – and until then, Nagapura said he could not predict whether it was economically possible to open only a local market, because 90 percent of its business was from international tourism.

He urged the government to urgently release details of what tourism companies, such as Whalewatch, would release from the budget relief fund.

“We are in the dark and like everyone else just waiting to hear this impending announcement in terms of the criteria for allocating that $ 400 million.

“time is passing.”

Whalewatch trip in 2017.
Photo: RNZ / Joelle Dally

All 40 Whalewatch permanent employees have been kept on subsidizing wages, and Ngapura said that even if they were not reopened, they could afford the bills and boat maintenance costs for at least another year.

Lee Boot, owner of Alpine Pacific Motels & Holiday Park, said it was a struggle competing with big towns and cities for the local tourism dollar.

“There are a lot of people – the whole country – competing for the tourist dollar, so in small areas we feel more vulnerable.”

She said she might be able to survive in the next six months, but she doesn’t know what will happen next.

“We have to open those borders and see what the world will look like after that, but it is very difficult to predict this and what it will look like.”

Mayor Craig MacKillie said that the number of unemployed in the town increased by 40, but was expected to get worse when the wage subsidy ran out.

Currently, he said, there is only enough domestic tourism to keep the business afloat.

“While we know there are problems coming – we’re all in a difficult way here – there’s anxiety, there’s no panic, and that’s a good thing, people seem relatively happy considering that they know what’s coming.”

The Ohau Point gauge near Kaikōura slides from the air.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King

He pressured the government for the city’s largest employer, the Highway to rebuild the NCTIR alliance, to stay on to do other road works after completing its major project at the end of the year.

If not, 130 locals will be unemployed.

There are fears that the economy will return to what it was in the 1980s – agriculture and fishing – which is the last thing Nagapura wanted to see, McKillie said.

“We had high unemployment in our town, especially for the Mäori, and families had to leave the town to find work, and then all the social challenges that came with unemployment began to emerge, so these are the kinds of things that we try,” said Ngapura.

Those who struggle financially get help from social service provider kaaba Māori, Te Tai O Marokura, based in Takahanga marae.

The head of Te Ronanga or Kaikyura said, Hariata Kahua, while most people were able to get off the back of the strong tourist season last summer, this will not last forever.

“There is this unexpected effect of if our tourism decreases, which affects our hospitality, it affects retail, it really affects Kaikōura – it is very dependent on their survival, in the tourism market.

“We probably have a six month period to be able to create something, and we’ve been working intensively with the Kaikoura County Council, so we’ve been working with them on ways we can boost the economy and achieve employment.”

Kaikoura Main Street
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King

Runongas also lose income, as the money they receive from international universities that book with marae no longer visit them.

However, she said that T. Ronanga or Nagai Tahoe had offered funding to continue operating their office, and that they were also looking to boost marae in new ways, such as the conference venue.

Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura and the mayor hope to increase jobs in the city from the $ 11 million Wakatū Wharf redevelopment.

Meanwhile, like other travel agencies across the country, Whalewatch awaits when the borders with Australia will be reopened.

Last week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern indicated that New Zealand’s borders may open to Australia in September.

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