The Government has left Kiwi tourism towns to fend for themselves while the first plane load of international visitors arrives in Australia, National’s Tourism spokesperson Todd McClay says.

“Yesterday in Australia, a Qantas A380 arrived in Sydney from L.A. – full of double vaccinated and tested tourists and business people.

“Yesterday in New Zealand, however, tourism businesses learnt that many of them would miss out on the Government’s latest announcement of financial support, forcing some to close their doors for good.

“The staggering comparison between New Zealand and Australia reopening to the world shows that this Labour Government has no plan on allowing tourists back into the country.  

“Australians can’t come into New Zealand until July and other visa holders can’t come until October. This is an absurdly slow timeframe and to make matters worse, everyone coming in will have to isolate for seven days. This will kill any real tourism recovery.

“The border should be open right now for Kiwis anywhere in the world to return home, then we should quickly open to tourists and other visa holders too. With over 2,800 Covid cases in the community today and only 15 at the border, MIQ no longer makes sense.

“We should then quickly move to a rule where people take a test on arrival in New Zealand. If it is positive then they should isolate and if it’s negative, they should be free to go about their business.

“Tourism does not need government welfare, they need paying visitors. The Government need to say when double vaccinated tourists and business people will be allowed into New Zealand without self-isolation, or change the rules to open up faster.”