Hundreds of West Coast visitors are being given cash incentives to spend their holidays there. Photo / Supplied, DWC
Hundreds of West Coast visitors are being given cash incentives to spend their holidays there. Photo / Supplied, DWC
Greenstone beaches, glacial mountains and luscious rainforest, as if you needed any other reason to visit, the local tourism board is offering $100 incentives to those taking summer holidays on the West Coast.
Development West Coast is looking to boost inbound visitors to the region by offering money-off trips and packages.
The region, which is famous for Glacier tours and remote wilderness, has been seen as a once-in-a-lifetime destination for international tourists. However, the closure of borders and competition for a domestic market has left the isolated Coasties with a huge drop in footfall.
In August DWC said visitor spending was down 48 per cent on pre-covid levels, from $190m a year to just under $100m.
Chief Executive Heath Milne said the situation has been "incredibly stressful" for operators.
Milne said the scheme was a chance to "refresh and appreciate what we have on our doorstep, while also supporting West Coast businesses and communities who are facing another summer without international visitors."
This isn't the first time the Coast has offered cash incentives to tourists.
In August the DWC offered $50 fuel vouchers to Kiwis to drive across the divide.
The fuel scheme brought 136 to South Westland, says Richard Benton, Director of the West Coast Wildlife Centre in Franz Josef.
Following the suspension of the Trans Tasman Bubble, the tourism board offered to pay for the petrol of the first 50 bookings on a West Coast holiday package through Hokitika and Fox Glacier.
The incentives are aimed at encouraging Kiwis to go the extra distance and visit the "incredibly beautiful but geographically isolated place".
The scheme is the latest incarnation of a $5m Glacier Country Business Support Fund, approved by DWC in March.
A sobering Covid-19 Impact survey revealed that 62 per cent of jobs had been lost in the Glacier Country since the pandemic and 23 per cent of employees and business owners had left the region.
Waiho Hot Tubs in Franz Josef are among the operators involved. Photo / Supplied, DWC
Other support and job retention projects such as the Jobs for Nature scheme have helped combat the erosion of tourism in the region.
Franz Josef Nature Tours is one of the operators whose conservation work helped remove pests for DOC and discover a previously unknown colony of long-tailed bats.
"Nature is why people are here, it's what grounds a lot of the work and people," says business owner Dale Burrows. "You're not coming to a small town for the nightlife." Not counting the bats.
"If the conservation work wasn't there it would be a very different picture for the community. A lot more people wouldn't be employed or would have left these small communities that are definitely really struggling with the downturn of international tourism."
Claim your $100 booster
The first 200 tourists booking West Coast tours will be given $100 off the face value of tours.
This represents about a third off packages including two nights' accommodation and glacier flights with Heliservices NZ and a guided kayak tour.
Other experiences include spa escapes at the Waiho Hot Tubs in Franz Josef or a tour of the West Coast's most famous natural landmarks - from Pancake rocks to the Hokitika Gorge.
For details, visit westcoast.co.nz/visit/holiday-booster
