“The $26M from the Support, Recovery and Reset Plan, recently announced by Tourism Minister, Stuart Nash, is a welcome boost for the work that RTOs commenced in 2020 to build and implement robust destination management plans,” Regional Tourism New Zealand chair David Perks says.
“Communities are at the heart of these initiatives, and as tourism recovers from the ravaging effects of the Covid-19 pandemic it is vital that their wishes and aspirations are mirrored in sustainable and resilient destination management plans.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted on every tourism business right across the country. The investment being made in RTOs by government ensures that there is the opportunity for every tourism operator to benefit from governments investment. This is because RTOs are tasked with promoting their regions to domestic travellers, and to work with their communities and businesses to make every place more vibrant, vital and sustainable as a result of the way their place hosts visitors from around the country – and in the future from around the world," David says.
Local government is a key stakeholder and has always been the major investor in regional tourism. This latest round of funding will support the investments in tourism provided by local government, and allow RTOs to realise the tourism ambitions laid out by their constituents, as well as build on the momentum of domestic tourism found since the national lockdown.
“RTOs endeavour to support the economy of their local community by building a tourism sector that embraces an all-encompassing destination management approach that will deliver a robust tourism recovery, and create a more sustainable and confident grassroots industry. This will not happen overnight, but a good start has been made, and we sincerely thank the Minister, the Government and MBIE for having the faith to invest in us to do just that," says David.
