30 September 2020

Media: NZME (Rotorua Daily Post and BOP Times)

Topic: COVID impact on cruise ship season

Enquiry

I'd like to get some comment from mayor Steve Chadwick this morning please regarding a story I'm working on about the upcoming cruise ship season. Understandably, there aren't any cruise ships expected. Given a third of those passengers traditionally visit Rotorua, can we please find out:

• what impact will the lack of cruise ship visitors have on Rotorua this summer?
• what support is being provided to local tourism providers which traditionally cater for cruise ship passengers?
• do you have any other comments you'd like to make about the state of tourism in Rotorua during Covid-19 restrictions?

Response

From Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick:

More than half of our visitors pre-COVID were domestic visitors and those businesses that did rely more heavily on international tourists or large groups of cruise visitors are adapting.

Council and Rotorua Economic Development are working together with sector leaders to respond to the new environment, rebuild and reposition our local economy and look at opportunities to diversify or adapt products to the changing market needs.

Like everywhere else, Rotorua is having to adapt and re-focus and we are doing what we can to ensure our ongoing relevance as, not just a visitor destination, but as a desirable place to live, work, invest and do business.

Response from Rotorua Economic Development to similar questions:

Traditionally, cruise ship passengers have been an important source of visitors for many local tourism, hospitality and retail businesses. Our proximity to Tauranga and the wide range of attractions and experiences on offer here mean that approximately a third of cruise passengers that come into the Port of Tauranga choose an excursion that includes Rotorua.

The changing visitor profile has meant that a number of local tourism businesses have moved to refocus their attention on the domestic market. Destination Rotorua continues to support this process in a number of ways, including working closely with businesses that are going through the process of developing new products and also helping them navigate funding options to mitigate the impact of the loss of international visitors, including the Cruise market.

Many of the products that were particularly suited to Cruise visitors also work well to meet the growing demand for business events and incentive trips within New Zealand. Our Business Events team is working with many of those businesses at the moment to produce some exciting new content that will position Rotorua even more strongly as the go to' domestic location for business events.