He echoed the head of Tourism New Zealand, Kevin Bowler, who told AAP it had been an "unbelievably challenging few months".
The Christchurch region's head of tourism, Tim Hunter, confirmed many tourism operations have started shedding staff, limiting their operations and some have shut down altogether.
"What we are seeing is that this earthquake has damaged South Island tourism to the tune of as much as 30 per cent at the moment," Mr Hunter said.
He warned that many more companies will close in coming months if numbers don't pick up.
In coastal Kaikoura, award-winning tourism operator Whale Watch has cut staff numbers and "streamlined" two services to survive as the number of international visitors plummet.
At Mt Cook, business has fallen by 50 per cent.
Queenstown is usually awash with Japanese tourists at this time of year but the double whammy that was the Christchurch quake, in which many Japanese students died, and the devastating quake and subsequent tsunami that flattened much of Japan's northeast coast last month, has kept this market away.
Destination Queenstown chief executive Tony Everitt said while there were no official figures available, it appeared Australian visitor numbers had "not been significantly impacted".
And with a ski season poised to start, he's hopeful Aussie arrival numbers will continue their steady climb.
"Australia is our biggest growth market," Mr Everitt told AAP.
"More and more Australians are choosing to ski in Queenstown ... because we have great snow."
He was confident widespread marketing campaigns and a boost in direct flights from Australia to Queenstown from 22 to 32 a week would keep numbers up.
Asked if the quake might still act as a deterrent, Mr Everitt said "I really hope not".
"Some months will have passed by then. People move on and look to the future."
- AAP
