Tuesday, 5 May 2020

TOURISM INDUSTRY SAYS TRANS TASMAN TRAVEL WILL KICKSTART ECONOMY

The opening of international flights across the Tasman will be a significant step in helping to kickstart both the Australian and New Zealand economies both from tourism and by opening up the borders for business and trade marking a key milestone in the road to recovery the tourism industry’s peak body said today.

Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF) CEO Margy Osmond said that the agreement between the Governments of both countries to work towards travel across the Tasman, once they have received the clearance from health authorities, is very welcome news for Australia’s tourism industry.

“While we appreciate that travel between Australia and New Zealand won’t happen overnight this development provides some light at the end of the tunnel for an industry that has been brought to a standstill by the double whammy of the bushfires and the COVID 19 virus.

“The fact that we are in position to start planning for such an initiative is testament to the strong management of the global pandemic by the Australian and New Zealand governments.

“New Zealand is our second biggest tourism market after China and the resumption of travel between the two countries will be major development economically and give tourism businesses confidence that we are firmly on the road to recovery.

“We look forward to working with the Australian and New Zealand Governments through TTF’s co-chairing with Auckland Airport, of the Tourism Group of the Australia and New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF) to bring this initiative to fruition once it is deemed safe by our respective health authorities.”

ENDS

Media Contact:           Graeme Moses at gmoses@ttf.org.au or 0434 569 470