TOURISM TRAP

Overseas visitors are starting to trickle back to NZ, but for some small tourism businesses it's too little, too late. Others hope the flow will be enough to refloat their boats.

- DALE OWENS

Nigel Hobbs, managing director of Altitude Tours in Queenstown, says the past two years have been hell.

It's been a while since the Aussie twang has been heard in some of Aotearoa's most scenic spots. From the middle of April, however, rare sightings of Aussie tourists have become more common, as New Zealand has finally joined many other countries in prising open international borders.

Our trans-Tasman neighbours were the first to be welcomed back, in time for the school holidays. “The school holidays are going well now. Being back at Orange is a help and people are out and about travelling, so that's great," says Ann-Marie Johnson, from Tourism Industry Aotearoa. “What we are hearing from operators, though, is that it's mainly New Zealanders coming back from Australia rather than actual Australians coming here for a holiday.”

From the beginning of May, more exotic species - including vaccinated travellers from other large tourist markets, such as the UK, US, Japan, Germany, South Korea and Singapore will also begin to trickle back.

For many tourism businesses, the flow of international travellers can't come soon enough. “If this had gone on for any longer and, for example say, the borders had been closed for another six months, I categorically know that you were going to see a large number of tourism businesses give up, throw the keys away and say, 'I've had enough," says Nigel Hobbs, managing director of Altitude Tours, in Queenstown.

Hobbs and his partner, Heidi Farren, got into the tourism business in 2017. They started with small group wine tours around the Gibbston Valley, and soon expanded into daily tours of Milford and Mt Cook. They started New Zealand's first gin tour, and also operate a luxury brand, Black. The past two years have been hell, he says.