Tourism Industry Aotearoa's Chief Executive on the challenges of resuming overseas tourism and striving to be regenerative
The resumption of overseas tourism isn't merely a matter of flicking a switch with everything then returning to how it was.
Rebecca Ingram, Chief Executive of Tourism Industry Aotearoa, says the industry, dramatically impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic with the border closed and domestic travel restricted for periods of time, continues to face major challenges.
Speaking in the latest episode of interest.co.nz's Of Interest Podcast, Ingram says there's no understating the impact of the last couple of years.
"This restart we're going through at the moment, it's really not just flicking a switch. You can't just shut something down for a couple of years and then hope that it will turn back on just the way it was," says Ingram. "So it's very difficult out there at the moment. People are having to make lots of choices with imperfect information."
While the industry is feeling quite hopeful about the upcoming summer, flight connectivity isn't back where it was pre-Covid, and the industry lost 72,000 workers. Ingram says tourism businesses are recruiting for everything from beauty and massage therapists for spas and hotels, to mechanics for rental car companies right across the country.
And in a world where climate change and net-zero carbon emissions is on the agenda, there's also debate about the types and volume of tourists New Zealand should be targeting.