Editorial: Lack of dining options a pity

THERE'S been a bit of talk on social media and around town over the last couple of days about the Rotorua cafes and restaurants that chose not to open on New Year's Day.

According to business owner Tak Mutu, who works in the tourism industry, the lack of dining options for tourists on Thursday was "embarrassing".

He has a point. Tourism is of course hugely important to Rotorua and we want our visitors to go away impressed and raving about their experience, not talking about the "ghost town" they encountered trying to get lunch. The negative experiences are often those we remember most about a holiday so "closed" signs are perhaps not the best look for the city, as Mr Mutu says.

On the other hand, business owners are free to run their businesses as they see fit. If they, presumably experts in their own industry, don't believe it's worth their while opening then that's up to them. They can't be forced to open, nor should they be.

Being a statutory holiday, staff would have to be paid time-and-a-half, which in some New Zealand cities is recouped by charging customers' surcharges. But that's rare in Rotorua where it's generally accepted a surcharge would be off putting to customers.

Then there's the staff. Hospitality workers work hard all year round, but especially so over the festive season. Many would have worked New Year's Eve. Are they not entitled to a day off? The cafe owners who chose not to open would no doubt have weighed up all these factors, and others, before making the choice. Maybe it was the right choice, maybe it wasn't. Either way, it's on their heads.

The decision does seem a little surprising however, judging by the huge number of visitors wandering around Rotorua in the past few days.

Sure, some visitors and locals were probably tired or nursing sore heads from the night before and were in no mood to head out to eat. But many would have been in the mood, it was a beautiful day and ideal for a New Year's brunch or lunch al fresco.

Those who did choose to open reported brisk sales. Whether that was because people had no other option, who knows?