Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Cath O'Brien: Board of Airline Representatives Executive Director on tourism

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Cath O'Brien: Board of Airline Representatives Executive Director on tourism · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Right now. The Aussies are helping push us towards our
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: first pre COVID tourism summer stats in ZED numbers two
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: hundred and thirty thousand tourists for August. That's an increase
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: of sixteen thousand on last year. August was ninety two
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: percent of pre COVID. Kathabrian is Barnes, chief executive director
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  Speaker 1: with US This morning CAF, Good morning.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Ryan.
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  Speaker 1: So how confident are you we will hit pre COVID
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  Speaker 1: this summer?
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  Speaker 2: Well, look, I think we might get close. And it's
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: been a long time since I've been talking about some
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  Speaker 2: good news, so I'm really pleased to see this, these
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: August numbers, and I think it's really promising for summer.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Okay, that's good. Are we a little obsessed with the
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: pre COVID thing. Shouldn't we be ahead of it already?
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: You know?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean for sure we were later to open.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: And I think, you know, it really as a product
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  Speaker 2: of this country being a really long way away from
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  Speaker 2: the rest of the world, and so our connections have
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  Speaker 2: taken longer to restore. But I think, you know, looking
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  Speaker 2: ahead to this summer. Over the summer season, airlines are
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: expecting to see eight point two percent increased capacity against
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: last summer, so you know, really quite a lot more
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  Speaker 2: seats in the sky, and so the opportunity is there
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  Speaker 2: to hit our pre COVID numbers.
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  Speaker 1: Where is the capacity coming from?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a range. I mean, you know, we've heard
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  Speaker 2: a lot about the Tasman capacity added by Corners Group,
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  Speaker 2: and that's fantastic with the Jetstile services and the new
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  Speaker 2: services toned into Hamilton. But I would also say there's
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  Speaker 2: a range of other sort of additional growth that's come
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  Speaker 2: into New Zealand, and that comes from a range of destinations.
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  Speaker 2: So the America's you know, Singapore, Hong Kong, you know,
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  Speaker 2: all those markets have grown in terms of airline capacity.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Which is good, which is what we need because if
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  Speaker 1: we rely just on the Aussies or the Aussies to
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  Speaker 1: do the heavy lifting, they don't stay as long and
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: spend as much here, right, Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I mean the Tasman travel always has been a substantial
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  Speaker 2: part of the New Zealand market, so it's really important.
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  Speaker 2: And I think you know, we would welcome any visitor,
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  Speaker 2: would we not. So I think it's great to see
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  Speaker 2: those of these coming. But it's also great to see
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  Speaker 2: the internationals coming over summer and I really hope this
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  Speaker 2: is meaningful for tourism businesses across New Zealand who have
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  Speaker 2: been waiting a long time to see this recovery.
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  Speaker 1: Very long time indeed, and as you say, nice to
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  Speaker 1: have some even a glimmer of some good news on
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  Speaker 1: the tourism front. Kah, thank you, it really is. Thank you,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Ryan Keath, Ryan Barnes, Executive Director. For more from Early
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to news talks it'd
• 2:26
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