Tourism promotion to get $8.8M boost

Press, 30 May 1985, Page 3

Tourism promotion to get $8.8M boost

By

MICHAEL HANNAH

in Wellington

Tourism promotion and development will get an extra $B.B million in this year's Budget, the Minister of Tourism, Mr Moore, announced yesterday. The extra money would go towards: © A new scheme to encourage the development of ski-fields, convention centres, and other tourist facilities. @ “Beefed up" marketing overseas and research and development at home. © The appointment of travel commissioners to the new overseas posts of Osaka and Adelaide, as well as additional staff in Vancouver and Singapore. Releasing the tourism package from the Budget yesterday, Mr Moore also announced that the present tourism market development export incentives would be extended beyond the previous Government’s cut-off date of 1986, and would continue at the present rate until March, 1987. They would then be phased down to 1990, as was also the case with incentives for manufactured exports, as announced last week. The Government would spend a total of $16.4 million in the 1985 Budget on market development for tourism, an increase of 187 per cent over the last National Government vote

in 1983, Mr Moore said. The new scheme for the development of facilities involved offering developers a grant in lieu of the depreciation allowance they can claim at present. Mr Moore said the grant scheme would help cash flow as well as giving smaller investors more of an opportunity. “This will be an inspiration to the person who in Christchurch may want to build an agrodome, but finds the cost of money, the sheer cost of the project means they have got to go offshore or link with a leading New Zealand company,” he said. “Our research shows that the gap for the visitor to New Zealand is what to do once you get here. That is, people are not happy to be just passive viewers of beautiful New Zealand, and there needs to be encouragement for people to build things such as more ski-fields, convention centres, theme parks, the chap who wants to build a shanty town, or whatever.” Extra trade commissioners were being appointed to attract tourists from the main markets of Japan and Australia, while the arrival of Canadian Pacific Air (C.P.A.j justified placing another trade commissioner in Vancouver. “There is going to be a lot of money spent in Canada by C.P.A. to get people here,

and by Air New Zealand, and increased staff there will help,” said Mr Moore. Another trade commissioner would be appointed in 'Singapore, which was at present understaffed. Outstanding matters not included in the package yesterday were policies relating to airline competition and labour training. Mr Moore said the Government was working on these matters, which he considered were a “major gap” in the Government’s strategy. The Government had already talked to the trade unions about labour training policies, Mr Moore said. IThe package announced yesterday, which would be detailed in the June 13 Budget, was designed to provide certainty for the private sector and steady growth in tourism facilities th match tourist flows. A proposal from the Tourism Council to replace the tourism marketing expert incentive was being prepared and would be discussed over the next few rrionths, particularly at a Week-end meeting with the council in July. Mr Moore said the Government was looking for an alternative, more targeted fprm of assistance which cbuld be introduced before

the phase-down started in 1987. The Government would scrap the small tourism export programme grants scheme over the next three years. No new applications would be accepted from yesterday, but applications already in hand would be processed and would be eligible under the criteria for three-year assistance. Programmes already approved would run their course. The Opposition spokesman on tourism, Mr John Banks, said the tourism industry would be appreciative of the further direct resource allocation for tourism promotion. He was particularly pleased with the establishment of a fund to provide grants and subsidies to assist public bodies to establish and maintain their promotional infrastructure. However, high interest rates and inflation would almost certainly stifle capital development, Mr Banks said. He welcomed the appointment of additional travel commissioners, but expressed surprise that no more staff were being put into the United States to offset what he said was the disastrous impact of the Government’s A.N.Z.U.S. policy.