Tourism – the long haul ahead

Abstract

Now is the time for a rethinking of, and recovery strategy for, New Zealand’s tourism sector. Our international borders are closed and are likely to remain so for a considerable period, perhaps until early 2022 when a Covid vaccine is established, tested, distributed and administered. For the shorter term we can note that New Zealanders have historically been great travellers both ‘at home’ and internationally. The pressing challenge is to determine how we might refine products and regions for domestic travel patterns that might emerge in a post Covid environment while at the same time supporting regional communities that have become dependent on visitors for their economic wellbeing.