That was how Lake Wanaka Tourism general manager James Helmore yesterday summarised the results of a survey of Wanaka tourist businesses done to gauge the effect of the coronavirus outbreak.
While he was still analysing the results, Mr Helmore said Wanaka was fortunate not to have all its eggs in one basket.
‘‘We’ve got a really good domestic and Australian base of about 55% to 60%,’’ he said.
‘‘That really helps mitigate against any shocks to the system initially, which is why we have come through January and actually had a 7% increase in visitor spend.’’
Yesterday, Radio New Zealand reported that the number of tourists visiting some South Island ‘‘hot spots’’ had slowed ‘‘to a trickle’’ and quoted one tourist operator saying Queenstown was ‘‘largely empty of tourists’’.
An Otago Daily Times reporter in Queenstown said yesterday that was ‘‘hyperbole’’ but there were definitely fewer tourists in the resort.
Nomad Safaris Queenstown managing director Dave Gatward-Ferguson told RNZ he was starting to feel the global reach of Covid-19.
‘‘In March, we’re tracking around about a third down at the moment.’’
‘‘The worrying thing is we’re getting more and more cancellations from the non-Chinese markets, and we’re not seeing the level of inquiries we’d expect,’’ Mr Gatward-Ferguson said.
He had lost about $250,000 in bookings this month and had no bookings for the Ramadan period in April and May when he normally catered for large contingents of Indonesian tourists.
‘‘At the end of this month and next month ... we will be looking to see what holidays staff have and those with a lot of holidays we will be asking them nicely to take holidays, so we can share the remaining work around fairly,’’ he said.
Wanaka Parasailing owner Jeno Hezinger said his international bookings had plunged 65%.
‘‘It’s completely died.
‘‘We’ve got no customers at all.
‘‘No bookings.
‘‘I try to keep myself positive because it can’t be any worse than this.
‘‘I’ve been operating for nine years and this is the lowest.
‘‘I’m just trying to survive.’’
Other ‘‘struggling’’ South Island tourism operators told RNZ they were pinning their hopes on a heavy dousing of snow on skifields this winter and Government plans for a package to help affected businesses.
Mr Helmore said his organisation’s survey showed lead times for accommodation bookings in March, April and May were ‘‘a lot shorter’’ and the level was lower than this time last year.
‘‘We’ve had in the survey some businesses saying they’ve had their best ever season and others saying they have got very soft forward bookings.’’
Mr Helmore said there was ‘‘huge variability’’ depending on which markets businesses were exposed to and their type of product.
As for jobs, Mr Helmore said at the end of the summer there was a ‘‘natural attrition’’ of seasonal workers but he did not have a ‘‘clear steer’’ from businesses around stopping seasonal contracts early or laying off staff.
He believed if more Government financial support was to be provided to the tourism industry it would be best spent on generating demand ‘‘across the board’’.
Wanaka, he said, was fortunate to have a series of events scheduled through until April, including the Upper Clutha A&P Show, which begins tomorrow.
— Additional reporting RNZ
