Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Glyn Lewers: Queenstown Mayor on the Government's ambitions to attract more tourists

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Glyn Lewers: Queenstown Mayor on the Government's ambitions to attract more tourists · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: With tourism starting to make a comeback, there's calls for
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  Speaker 1: the government to get its checkbook ready if it plans
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  Speaker 1: to welcome more tourists to our shores. Just over three
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  Speaker 1: hundred and twenty one thousand tourists came to the country
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  Speaker 1: in November. That's eighty six percent of pre pandemic figures
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  Speaker 1: from the same month in twenty nineteen. The new Minister
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  Speaker 1: for Economic Growth and Nicola Willis, has set her sights
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  Speaker 1: on a wealthier economy, saying attracting more tourists would help
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  Speaker 1: to make that happen. Queenstown mag Lin, Lewis joins me. Now,
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  Speaker 1: good to have you with us.
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  Speaker 2: Glynn, good morning. Hey.
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  Speaker 1: Tourism's bounced back in Queenstown pretty well, hasn't it.
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  Speaker 2: It has its bounced back pretty hard and fast post pandemic.
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  Speaker 2: And I think we've which new heights over the last
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  Speaker 2: summer seeing the amount of people have come just the
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  Speaker 2: last couple of weeks.
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  Speaker 1: So would you welcome more tourists.
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  Speaker 2: I'd welcome Morris. There is a proviso that the infrastructure
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  Speaker 2: to support and accommodate more tourists and visitors is accounted for.
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  Speaker 1: Your voting package gets thrown out a lot as being
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  Speaker 1: the answer to everything. What else do you need?
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  Speaker 2: Look that sustainable investment in actually providing that sed infrastructure
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  Speaker 2: that both residents and visitors use. I think that needs
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  Speaker 2: to be really well thought through and if that can happen, Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I think we have the capacity to have more tourists.
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  Speaker 2: But even the simple things like making sure that we
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  Speaker 2: have enough let's say, air traffic control, talent to to
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  Speaker 2: air functioning, airport investment, and customs security, those sorts of things,
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  Speaker 2: Because I can tell you now that having an airport,
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  Speaker 2: an international airport here, those are the sorts of things
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  Speaker 2: when I talk to my airport, we've talked about our airport.
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  Speaker 2: Those are the sorts of things that actually can get
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  Speaker 2: in the way of actually allowing international visitors into the country.
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  Speaker 1: Nikola Willis has hindered at making changes to visas to
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  Speaker 1: help bring in more tourists. What do you think of that?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I actually do welcome that. I think there's actually
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  Speaker 2: opportunity to go even further, especially in welcoming behind end
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  Speaker 2: entrepreneur technology skill set. I think, yeah, that's a good start.
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  Speaker 2: I've got a few more ideas that I'll suggest to me.
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  Speaker 2: She makes her way down here at some stage.
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  Speaker 1: And if you look at it a little bit more broadly,
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  Speaker 1: you know, not just in Queenstown's sort of situation, but
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  Speaker 1: how can the government support the growing number of visitors
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  Speaker 1: do you think across the country.
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  Speaker 2: Look, my view is actually sort out points of entry first,
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  Speaker 2: So there's from my reckoning, there's probably four points of
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  Speaker 2: entry Auckland ranked and christ Divisi in Queenstown. When it
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  Speaker 2: comes to national visitors through airports, sort those points of
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  Speaker 2: entry out so the experience for the visitor when they
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  Speaker 2: first arrives and makes and make sure that that distribution
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  Speaker 2: outside those points of entry is as simple and as
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  Speaker 2: easy as possible. So you regionalize extra tourism. It's as
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  Speaker 2: easy as possible. Because last time they tried this, they
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  Speaker 2: didn't do it and it just clogged up. It just
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  Speaker 2: made a mess of Queenstown and back and let's say
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  Speaker 2: the mid twenty ten, that's what we're really consumed about.
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  Speaker 1: Glen. Look one, I've got you just wondering if you'd
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  Speaker 1: like to comment on the Winter Games, which will no
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  Speaker 1: longer be held in its current format kind of in
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  Speaker 1: your neighborhood. It's a bit of a shame isn't it.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yes, so I opened it two years ago. This
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  Speaker 2: is this one hurts quite a bit because obviously I
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  Speaker 2: knew On before his passing. He was a big player
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  Speaker 2: in our district. And I think that's one's things a
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  Speaker 2: little bit more because of the origins of the Winter Games. Look,
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  Speaker 2: I feel so sorry for Sam and Marty would have
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  Speaker 2: been Sam that year and made to World have been
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  Speaker 2: just such a hard decision to make given the background.
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  Speaker 2: But those economic conditions indexed was it to the European
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  Speaker 2: currency for prize money and entries and please say, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: real tough. Feel really sorry for the organization and really
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  Speaker 2: disappointed because it was a huge event for our district
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  Speaker 2: and outside outside of the district as well.
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  Speaker 1: Dlen, thank you so much for your time this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Really appreciated. That was Queenstown May Glenn Lewis.
• 4:46
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• 4:49
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• 4:52
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