Latest lockdown nervous time for Maori tourism

Waatea Team Latest lockdown nervous time for Maori tourism

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The chair of New Zealand Māori Tourism says many small Māori operators will find it tough to survive another extended lockdown.

Dale Stephens says there were about 320 Māori tourism entities at the start of Covid last year, and those that did not close completely went into hibernation.

Many were able to reopen during the summer.

"We put a lot of support into helping tourism entities understand their financial position, understand their cash flow issues, understand how to work in a Covid environment. I can guarantee all our summer entities have their fingers crossed that this does not come up again in summer because that will mean the end of more tourism entities because it's just too hard," Mr Stephens says.

He says businesses are in fear mode, and what will stop that is getting the whole population vaccinated.

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