May 27, 2022
Budget prepares Maori tourism for reopening
New Zealand Maori Tourism says the budget positions operators for the Covid recovery.
Unspent money from the past couple of years is being redirected into the Innovation Programme for Tourism Recovery, which will include efforts to get tourists to engage with Māori culture and heritage.
There’s also almost $200 million to invest in regional business support and tourism, some of which will find its way to Maori operators.
Maori Tourism chair Dale Stephens says government money that has been available for struggling businesses through the pandemic.
“Maori entities in this sector haven’t been able to operate but we have done a lot of work with them streamlining what they do, how they work, understanding processes, being better prepared to market their industry and understanding a better way to operate once we get through this. We’re still not there yet, but we’re certainly getting closes, and obviously while we would always like more out of the Budget, we will do the best we can with what we have got,” he says.