30 June 2020

Media: Stuff

Topic: Managed isolation in Rotorua

Enquiry

Dropping you a line with some questions for Steve.

To provide some background, I'm planning to seek comment from a number of stakeholders across the hospitality and accomodation sectors here about whether there are any concerns that dedicated quarantine facilities in Rotorua may adversely affect the ability to draw domestic tourists.

On the one hand it's a reputational issue, and secondly there's the more basic question of how many guests beds may be lost to the tourism sector given we have both isolation people and of course a number of homeless being housed here now too.

I'm aware of course it's something of a balance. I'm sure there are staff happy to be back at work in whatever capacity!

To this end I wanted to ask Steve:

Is it likely that additional hotels/motels in Rotorua may be used for isolation purposes in future?

We currently have the Ibis and Sudima being used as isolation centres. I'm aware of course these people aren't wandering the streets, but is there still a possibility this use - especially if more come online - could be damaging in a reputational sense to Rotorua's plans to secure domestic tourists?

Is Steve confident there is enough accomodation capacity for domestic tourists in Rotorua with both homeless and isolated returnees being housed here at present, especially if additional isolation facilities come online?

On the flip side, is there a positive to having isolation facilities in Rotorua - the most obvious being employment for hotel staff?

Response

The following was provided:

Regarding your question: Is it likely that additional hotels/motels in Rotorua may be used for isolation purposes in future? As we have previously made clear, Council is not involved in management of, or decision-making about, managed isolation and quarantine facilities and you will need to refer this question to the National Crisis Management Centre which is running the All of Government COVID-19 response. Email: PIM@ncmc.govt.nz or phone 021-199 2529

Re your other questions, see below from the mayor.

From Mayor Chadwick:

We are open and ready for visitors and going by what we're hearing from tourism and hospitality operators, Kiwis are coming to Rotorua to enjoy our experiences, activities and attractions. We have to trust the assurances that we've been given regarding the now military-run managed isolation and quarantine facilities. As we focus on standing up the economy again, it's important to Rotorua that visitors feel safe to come here and I've been assured by both the Defence Force and the Minister in charge, Minister Woods, that all the right protocols and processes are in place. Domestic visitors make up more than half of our tourist numbers so they have always been important to Rotorua and we hope they keep coming.

At present we appear to have enough capacity - we do have many accommodation options in Rotorua, from holiday parks and Bookabach type accommodation to Bed and Breakfast, resorts, hostels, hotels and motels. We would certainly be concerned if capacity becomes an issue given the importance of tourism to our local economy.

We are being asked to play our part and our hotels being used in this way is helping to keep hotel staff in jobs. There is also some spin-off for the hospitality and retail sectors due to the likes of military, police and health personnel from outside of Rotorua being here to help run the managed isolation facilities.

Rotorua Economic Development was also asked for comment and provided the following:

We are fortunate to have a good supply of accommodation options in Rotorua and providing a safe place for returning New Zealanders is another expression of the manaakitanga that we are well known for as a destination.

We have been assured by the Government agencies coordinating the COVID-19 Isolation arrangements in Rotorua that the isolation process is under control and there is no risk to our ability to welcome visitors to the city.

We hope this doesn't deter people from coming over the school holidays. Our operators are looking forward to extending a warm welcome to New Zealanders and the town is ready for a busy and vibrant couple of weeks. Forward bookings for that period remain strong.