Old vehicles for tourists worry industry

Trevor Hall

Fears that "fly-by-night" tourism operators are using shoddy transport have prompted a call for limits on the age of vehicles imported for use in the industry.

Tourism Holdings chief executive Trevor Hall said he was concerned some tourists' experience of New Zealand was being tarnished by substandard transport.

Hall said many undercapitalised tourism companies were struggling to maintain and replace assets. There was concern around "the developing Chinese market that we don't damage it in the early stages".

"We don't want visitors that arrive from China ... being massively disappointed because some fly-by-night operator has paid $3000 for a bus and tries to showcase our tourism destination from the windows."

He wanted a limit introduced on the age of vehicles imported for use in tourism.

"I would propose about three years - three years from manufacture then they could be brought into the country and used for their natural life," said Hall.

"To bring in vehicles that are 15 years old and let the tourists use them or be transported around in them, it's really damaging."

Tourism Industry Association chief executive Fiona Luhrs said several problems had been identified with some of the Chinese-focused tour operators referred to by Hall.

Some did not have the required passenger service licence, said Luhrs.

"That clearly is not a market that we would want to encourage, at all," she said.

"We really want to be at that upper end of the market, not down at the really low, budget, poor experience end of the market."