Latest / Best of Business / Tracey Green: Destination Marlborough general manager on the ferry disruptions gaining international concern

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Tracey Green: Destination Marlborough general manager on the ferry disruptions gaining international concern · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks at B.
• 0:12
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  Speaker 2: New Zealand is apparently starting to get a reputation overseas
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  Speaker 2: for how hard it can be to travel between the
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  Speaker 2: North and South Islands. A tourism operator who attended the
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  Speaker 2: ITB Berlin Trade Show, which is one of the world's
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  Speaker 2: largest tourism events, said it was being discussed quite openly.
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  Speaker 2: They say a key concern for visitors is the risk
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  Speaker 2: of being stuck because of fairy disruptions. Tracy Green is
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  Speaker 2: the general manager of Destination Marlboro and with US High Tracy.
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  Speaker 3: Hi head, how are you to know?
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  Speaker 2: I'm very well, thank you. Is this what you're hearing?
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  Speaker 2: This is being discussed offshore?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look at absolutely is. It's something that we try
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  Speaker 3: to ignore, but unfortunately it's the drummers getting a little
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  Speaker 3: bit louder as time goes on and is more events
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  Speaker 3: occur with the cookstraight crossing.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, So who was discussing at overseas? At what level
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  Speaker 2: is this being discussed?
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  Speaker 3: Look, it's been discussed at a level of what we
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  Speaker 3: call inbound operators or wholesalers. So people that sell travel
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  Speaker 3: onto other travel agencies and then further on to the consumer.
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  Speaker 3: So it's peeking up momentum from the fear fact that
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  Speaker 3: some of these operators have been really challenged by the
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  Speaker 3: events that occurred this year, and it's front of mine.
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  Speaker 2: Is this for us make or break? Or are they
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  Speaker 2: still going to send people to New Zealand. They're just
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  Speaker 2: going to say if you want to go between the
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  Speaker 2: two islands, you got to fly. You cannot rely on
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  Speaker 2: the fairies.
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  Speaker 3: Look, that's a good question. I don't think it's make
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  Speaker 3: or break, and there is definitely a concern, especially when
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  Speaker 3: it comes to group travel traveling across the Cook Straight.
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  Speaker 3: It's very difficult for reorganize a twenty passenger trip in
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  Speaker 3: the height of a summer season. But for what we
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  Speaker 3: call the ft traveler or the independent traveler, the Cook
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  Speaker 3: Straight Ferry is an iconic trip and one that many
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  Speaker 3: people put on their bucket list when they're coming to
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  Speaker 3: New Zealand. So I don't think it will disappear. It's
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  Speaker 3: just frustrating and disappointing for those that are impacted by the.
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  Speaker 2: How much of a problem is it for Marlborough itself?
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  Speaker 2: Like how do people get to use it predominantly coming
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  Speaker 2: across the ferry from Wellington or is it coming up
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  Speaker 2: the South Island.
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  Speaker 3: I look at the mixture, but we are definitely a
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  Speaker 3: key connector. The Cookstraight is a key connector for those
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  Speaker 3: longer itineries that head in from Auckland and then they
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  Speaker 3: fly out of either christ Church or coeens Down. But
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  Speaker 3: it's hard to put an absolute number on it, but
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  Speaker 3: it definitely is. It is a concern. But we are
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  Speaker 3: still seeing really strong numbers on both the Into Islander
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  Speaker 3: and the Blue Bridge, and it's really hard to predict
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  Speaker 3: how much of a disrupted these conversations are causing. It's
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  Speaker 3: just an uncomfortable conversation to be having because we don't
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  Speaker 3: like to hear things that put a dampener on people
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  Speaker 3: coming to Marlborough and even to the top of the South.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean for Touret, for you guys. I would
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  Speaker 2: imagine the bigger risk is not that people are Obviously
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  Speaker 2: you need to fear, as we've discussed, you need to
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  Speaker 2: fear bit of money to come out here anyway, So
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  Speaker 2: you're going to catch a plane, You're not going to
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  Speaker 2: catch the ferry. It seems to be the bigger problem
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  Speaker 2: is that the idea catches on that we're a bit
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  Speaker 2: third world. Is that a problem?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, it is. Look, it is definitely a problem that
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  Speaker 3: if it does catch on, it's going to be very
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  Speaker 3: hard and very difficult for us to turn that momentum around.
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  Speaker 3: And it started with the twenty twenty three disruption and
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  Speaker 3: it's kind of building a little bit of momentum. And look,
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  Speaker 3: we can't wait for those fairies to get here, those
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  Speaker 3: new fairies to get here. It's unfortunate that they're not
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  Speaker 3: coming this year, but we're looking down the barrel of
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  Speaker 3: twenty twenty nine when we'll have those new fairies and
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  Speaker 3: hoping that that solves some of the problem. But between
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  Speaker 3: now and then, there's a lot of work that we
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  Speaker 3: have to do as a region, being Marlborough but also
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  Speaker 3: at the top of the South has to continue to
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  Speaker 3: promote the destination for people to see above and over.
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  Speaker 3: This cooks straight issue because it's not always it's not
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  Speaker 3: always a problem, it's occasionally a problem.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, hey, thank you. Tracy has always appreciate your time.
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  Speaker 2: Tracy Green, General Manager Destination
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