The new COVID business support payment will help holiday parks survive the next six weeks but getting New Zealand’s borders reopened is what they really need, Holiday Parks New Zealand says.
HPNZ represents 280 holiday parks around New Zealand. These parks employed about 2500 people pre-COVID and contribute millions of dollars to their local communities.
Chief executive Fergus Brown says the new COVID Support Payment and changes to the Small Business Cashflow Loans Scheme, will be useful for many parks.
"Our peak summer season was very short this year. Visitor numbers were good until 10 January, but since then business has been mixed. A few parks are continuing to welcome good numbers but others say that the usual second wave of visitors did not arrive in late January and February," Fergus says.
"Kiwis have largely stopped travelling since we moved to the Red setting on January 23. Although they can still travel at Red, people are reluctant to go far from home."
Self-isolation requirements for any staff who are close contacts are adding to the challenges for holiday park operators. Many are already struggling to find staff and absences due to self-isolation add to the headaches.
"We are looking forward to being able to welcome back international holidaymakers, as Australia has done this week. Holiday parks want to get back to making money and not relying on Government support. We need our borders to reopen with no self-isolation requirements as soon as possible," Fergus says.
