Tourism and Hospitality Minister Matt Doocey: What’s next for sector

Worker shortages, a lack of housing for staff, a choppy tourism recovery and funding for the sector are some of the issues facing the new tourism minister Matt Doocey. He’ll spend the holidays at the coal face listening to concerns. One thing he knows already: He doesn’t have a beef with backpackers.

New Tourism and Hospitality Minister Matt Doocey says he’s open to new ideas about funding the sector.

The minister, who says tourism runs in his blood, will over summer visit businesses in the sector to find out what they want from the new Government.

The list will be long. Many businesses were brought to their knees during the pandemic and border closures and have struggled to rebuild as quickly as they want. The sector, once the biggest foreign exchange earner, is critical to New Zealand running surpluses and paying its way in the world.

Some groups, including Hotel Council Aotearoa, have called for a new approach to funding tourism infrastructure, the type of facilities that would also benefit locals in places where tourists go.

The council has suggested a national bed tax to fund local projects and there have been suggestions the international visitor levy be increased or be spent in different ways. While local government has called for new ways of being funded by central government to reduce reliance on rates alone.

‘’When you look at a bed tax or a border levy, I’d say nothing’s off the table for me at the moment and I’ll be engaging the sector around this and also getting advice from officials as well,’’ Doocey told the Herald.

‘’I think Kiwis have a strong sense of fairness and I think at times when you have smaller areas with a very small rating base (they) have to cover the costs of infrastructure deficits caused by tourism. We do need to think about how we respond to that.’’

He would work with Local Government Minister Simeon Brown on what funding models could work including looking overseas at Australia.

Doocey said after Christmas he would continue to get out among tourism operators.

‘’I’ve tasked my officials to set up a plan from early to mid-January just to get out and meet operators on the ground and introduce myself right around the country,’’ said Doocey, who is from Christchurch.

‘’I’m mindful that when you become a minister, the officials meet with you in your office and start to talk about what your priorities are. I think the first step I should take is actually to get on the ground with the sector,’’ said Doocey. He’s also Minister for Mental Health, Minister for ACC, Minister for Youth and Associate Minister of Health.

The sector had a bumpy relationship with the last Government and the three ministers who had the portfolio, much of the time during the depths of the pandemic. Former minister Stuart Nash emphasised the need to target high value tourists as the industry recovered, questioning the value of backpackers and targeting freedom campers.

New Zealand is known as one of the best destinations for backpackers and the industry wants to build on this reputation. Photo / NZME

Doocey says he disagreed with the approach. ‘’I thought the former Government’s view on tourism was very paternalistic. I think it was quite a value-laden judgment of different types of travellers.’’

He said targeting the backpacker market was unfair.

This week he met a senior vice-president of United Airlines, Patrick Quayle, who toured here as a backpacker when he was young.

United, the world’s biggest airline by available seat kilometres, has started a new summer service from San Francisco to Christchurch and Quayle has recalled at events how his time here as a backpacker helped develop his affection for Aotearoa.

‘’That has formed his views later in life,’’ Doocey says the visitor mix and volume was all about balance.

To have the ‘’social licence‘’ to operate the country needed to be mindful of the number of tourists because it was important to give them a quality New Zealand experience.

‘’But equally, backpackers are a group who might go into some of the smaller towns on the West Coast of the South Island, spend their hard-earned money there buying a coffee and maybe even working behind the bar,’’ says Doocey.

‘’The experience we give them at an earlier stage in life, potentially they will return as higher value - if that’s what you’d like to call them - tourists later in life.’’

Lumpy recovery in tourist numbers

Latest Stats NZ figures show visitor arrival are around 80 per cent of pre-Covid.

ASB economists say there’s been a stop-start recovery.

October saw an 8 per cent seasonally-adjusted fall in visitor numbers (to 253,000), as numbers recede after the Fifa Women’s World Cup.

Annual visitor arrival numbers climbed to 2.832 million, their highest since mid-2020, but still well below the close to four million pre-pandemic peak.

Annual arrival numbers by source country shows numbers well below pre-pandemic highs for all major markets, particularly Asia. Chinese visitor numbers ticked up to 119,000 people in the October year but are well below pre-pandemic highs of around 450,000.

Doocey is not too worried about the choppy recovery.

In Queenstown last week he saw how numbers there were ahead of pre-Covid levels.

‘’Clearly, we do have some regions that have bounced back more than others. I think there is an element where this isn’t a demand side issue. It’s a supply side issue.’’

Airlines were still rebuilding following the pandemic and in some Asian markets, China in particular, capacity was still well down on 2019. But from November (not covered by the latest Stats NZ release) there has been a big boost to capacity from United States carriers, Singapore Airlines and a gradual buildup by Cathay Pacific.

United Airlines flight UA730 arrives in Christchurch from San Francisco on Sunday. Photo / George Heard

‘’I don’t have any concerns. I think that when that supply increases, we’ll see further demand coming through,’’ says Doocey.

He was very interested in the work of regional tourism organisations on destination management plans which focus on how visitors are catered for while retaining the support of locals.

‘’We’ve got to ensure that as those numbers increase over time, that we maintain the social licence, but most of all we just ensure that we can deliver the quality personal experience that is tourism and hospitality.’’

The workforce squeeze has been a problem as the country has emerged from the pandemic.

‘’That is partly about how we look at our immigration settings to encourage skilled migration, but also how we train young Kiwis to take up tourism and hospitality as a profession as well.’’

The worker issue would be a key focus and he would be working very closely with Immigration Minister Erica Stanford to speed up the process for those who want to work in New Zealand.

Another issue that’s been frequently raised is housing for the tourism staff.

‘’We want to make sure that there’s an availability of amenities like housing for them.’’

The new coalition is facing vociferous opposition from many Māori after moves to cut the use of te reo in government departments and possible changes to how principles of the Treaty of Waitangi fit into New Zealand law.

Māori culture is a big part of Aotearoa’s tourism proposition and fundamental to how the country is sold overseas by government agency, Tourism New Zealand.

Doocey says he’s looking forward to working alongside Maori tourism operators.

‘’They are a key part to our tourism sector. I know that from when I lived overseas for a number of years and talking to people when I lived in countries like England about their experiences of New Zealand. Our cultural identity is something that makes us unique.’’

Asked if there was a danger of messaging from the coalition working against that he said: ‘’I haven’t experienced or seen or heard of that. So, like I say, I’ll be looking to work very collaboratively.’’

Tourism in the blood

Doocey, in his early 50s, says he had a background from growing up in the tourism and hospitality sectors as his father was a hotel manager in Christchurch.

‘’My first job was working at his hotel carrying bags for inbound American tour companies as they come in at night and then get back there the next morning and pick up their bags from their room and put them on the bus,’’ he says.

“I‘ve gone from a 15-year-old porter to now the Minister for Tourism, welcoming American tourists to the country.’’

At one stage, he considered getting into tourism and hospitality.

‘’But because of a bad car accident I ended up having some mental health issues and when I sought help about them, I decided to work in that field.’’

He was so impressed by the person who helped him that he decided to train in mental health, which took him to London where he worked for about 15 years in the National Health Service.

‘’But hospo and tourism stays in your blood - when I was in London, I took a year out and I was a tour guide in Europe for a company, Busabout, a subsidiary to Contiki.’’

He said people in tourism and hospitality were hard workers and had high initiative.

‘’You’ve really got to be a self-starter to work in the sector.’’

Grant Bradley has been working at the Herald since 1993. He is the Business Herald’s deputy editor and covers aviation and tourism.