Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Glyn Lewers: Queenstown Mayor on international visitor spending up

Transcript

Glyn Lewers: Queenstown Mayor on international visitor spending up · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Let's get to the numbers on tourism, shall we. The
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: government patting itself on the back yesterday praising itself over
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: the international visitors spending, saying it's on the rise, new
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  Speaker 1: data showing it increased by almost ten percent on last year,
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  Speaker 1: contributing twelve point twelve billion dollars to the economy. And
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  Speaker 1: yes it is coming back, but boy is it's slow.
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  Speaker 1: In real terms, we're still only at eighty six percent
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  Speaker 1: of pre COVID spending and we've been stuck there since
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  Speaker 1: at least March, according to numbers from the Minister's office.
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  Speaker 1: Glyn Lewis is the Queenstown mayor. He's with me this morning. Glenn,
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  Speaker 1: good morning, Good morning, Rian, Good to have you on
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  Speaker 1: the show. What are you seeing are you seeing obviously
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  Speaker 1: not back to pre well, well what are you seeing
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  Speaker 1: in Queenstown?
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, the numbers are good news. It's good to
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  Speaker 2: see them coming up. But when we look at the
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  Speaker 2: Queenstown context, when we're above pre COVID levels and visitation
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  Speaker 2: and we had spend it around about eleven percent above
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  Speaker 2: a year on year, it just tells me some parts
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: of New Zealand are doing it tough. When it comes
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  Speaker 2: to tourism spend, So that's interesting.
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  Speaker 1: So Queenstown is eleven percent on spend above pre above
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  Speaker 1: pre COVID, and are on numbers.
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  Speaker 2: Eleven percent above from last year to April April April,
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  Speaker 2: and where I think we're I think about seventeen percent
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  Speaker 2: above pre COVID. If you even look at our airport,
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  Speaker 2: our trains, Tasman routes one hundred and forty percent above
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  Speaker 2: pre COVID, we're about to hit We're just under a
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  Speaker 2: million international visitors through our airport this year alone, and
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  Speaker 2: I think pre COVID we're about six hundred thousand.
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  Speaker 1: Well, so what's your what's your biggest problem tourism wise?
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  Speaker 2: It's it's not a problem. It's going to get even
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  Speaker 2: busier during the winter months. I think it just highlights
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  Speaker 2: the the uneven nature of the spend across New Zealand,
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  Speaker 2: and I think from my own personal point of view,
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  Speaker 2: I think there's a little bit more effort to try
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  Speaker 2: and collaborate more between different regions and see if we
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  Speaker 2: spread the love, let's say, into the regions, because.
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  Speaker 1: You've basically got people flying in to see you and
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  Speaker 1: flying out.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that usually happens especially in the winter when
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  Speaker 2: the ski season starts, that white gold comes falling down.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, and look, there's some I believe there's a
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  Speaker 2: huge opportunity to get those international visitors out into the
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  Speaker 2: regions more. But yeah, I think that's probably a bit
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  Speaker 2: more of a work on Glen.
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  Speaker 1: Appreciate your perspective this morning. Thanks so much for being
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  Speaker 1: with us. That's Glenn Lewis. He's the Queenstown mayor on
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  Speaker 1: those new international tourist spend numbers out yesterday.
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  Speaker 2: For more from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 2:44
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• 2:47
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