Ski bonanza unlikely

Press, 24 July 1984, Page 1

Ski bonanza unlikely

Last week’s devaluation is unlikely to give the New Zealand ski-ing industry a boom season, in spite of early favourable reaction from Australian skiers. A spokesman for Air New Zealand’s Sydney office said that until last Friday, the number of telephone reservations coming into the Sydney office alone had increased more than 30 per cent, and that he believed a similar trend was evident in

other main Australian cities. “A lot of interest has been shown now that Australians have realised their purchasing power has increased 20 per cent overnight, but skiers are the first people to cash in,” he said. The Australian regional manager of Air New Zealand, Mr Paul Winter, was reported on Australian television at the week-end as saying, “God was obviously

looking after us; because heaven opened and brought the snow, and then we had devaluation too.” However, tour firms in New Zealand do riot expect the ski bonanza that this might suggest. The deputy chief executive of the Mount Cook Group, Mr Michael Corner, said that the impact of devaluation would not be that great. An estimated half to three-quarters of Australian skiers bought a package deal and their trips were pre-paid. The only real effect devaluation would have for these tourists would be on the value of their spending money. If devaluation had happened three months ago, it would have had a bigger impact, he said. Eighty per cent of tour sales were already sold. There had been little change in Mount Cook bookings in the last week. But even if there had been a greater demand, Mount Cook would not have been able to handle it, because of a lack of accommodation both at Mount Hutt and Queenstown. “The lack of accommoda-

tion at the peak of the season is a very, very real problem, especially 'in Queenstown,” said Mr Corner. Mr Corner thought that the increase in Air New Zealand bookings would be individual holidaymakers, who would try to find accommodation once they arrived here. He thought that there would not be many Australians coming for a ski-ing holiday in New Zealand solely because of devaluation. “My own thinking is that if people are going to come ski-ing, they will come. Taking off $lOO from the cost will not make much difference to them,” he said. The chairman of the Mount Hutt company, Mr Peter Yeoman, agreed that most Australian skiers were already spoken for, but that devaluation could make a difference in the spring months of September and October, when the ski-ing season was normally tailing off. He suggested that devaluation might have its greatest effect next year.

Mr Roger Bamford, managing director of NewmansBamfords Ski Tours, was also wary of showing too much optimism too soon. “Devaluation is very good for the market, there is no question about that,” he said. “But until we know the future of the Export Performance Taxation Incentive the market will stay in a state of flux.” The incentive was introduced four years ago to offset the imbalance created by the deficit, and to provide a 10 per cent tax break for New Zealand exporters.

A meeting of the Tourist Action Council will be held today, and tour firms hope that it will recommend to the incoming Labour Government that it should continue the incentive scheme. The Minister-elect of Tourism, Mr Moore, said yesterday that E.P.T.I. would not be automatically revoked and that a decision would be made as soon as possible. Mr Bamford also said that the other side of devaluation was that the costs of marketing in Australia would be up 20 per cent, which would probably have a flow-on effect on costs in New Zealand.