May 07, 2020
Tough call to shelve tourism business
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The head of Ngāi Tahu Holdings says putting the tribe's tourism businesses into hibernation was a heartbreaking decision.
Over 300 people working in businesses like Shotover Jet and Rainbow Springs were laid off.
Mike Pohio says with the industry at a standstill and the tribe’s seafood, farming and property divisions also hit by the coronavirus slowdown, there was no way to redeploy staff.
Efforts to create a trans-Tasman bubble and the Prime Minister’s announcement domestic travel could resume once the country moves to Alert Level 2 are a little consolation.
“Given that the majority of our tourism manuhiri come from outside Australasia, it, unfortunately, would still bot be enough to sustain our operations at their usual capacity, and even when people are travelling domestically they are going to be affected by their own personal circumstances and to a large extent travel and holidays are a luxury spend,” Mr Pohio says.
The company will try to keep track of laid-off staff so it can bring them back if business picks up.
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