ITO survey reveals redundancies, closures and subsidy lifeline

30th April 2020 By Staff Reporter | news@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker

New Zealand’s inbound tour operators are “holding faith” that the tourism sector will receive further support from government as new research shows how deeply the industry has been hit by the Covid-19 outbreak.

Tourism Export Council chief executive Lynda Keene said that preliminary results of a survey of its ITO members showed that 100% of respondents had applied for the Government’s wage subsidy.

Some 42% of respondents to the survey – which at the preliminary stage had a 50% response rate – had placed their business in hibernation.

Some 32% of respondents said they had already made staff redundant, and of these, 92% would make more staff redundant if the wage subsidy was not extended past its initial 12 week period, which concluded in June.

The association also surveyed its allied members, finding that 98% of respondents had applied for the wage subsidy, and some 41% have placed their business in hibernation.

The survey of allied members, which had a 27% response rate, found that 23% had made staff redundant, and all of these businesses – 100% – said if the subsidy was not extended past 12 weeks they would make more job cuts.

Keene said the association had been lobbying collectively with Tourism Industry Aotearoa, Conventions and Incentives NZ, Tourism New Zealand, Holiday Park NZ, NZ Maori Tourism and Cruise NZ to have the wage subsidy extended to 26 weeks 

“We are holding faith the Government can provide further financial support to get businesses to a point in time (start of season 1 October) where they (tourism businesses) will do their work to help the New Zealand economy make great strides towards a positive rebound,” Keene said.

“New Zealand has been successful on the health front and we can take pride in that. New Zealand can also achieve a successful economic rebound as well, with a little more help.

“We know it won’t happen overnight, but with Government and the private sector working together, we can do this.”