Tour boat purchase approved

The 'Spirit of Queenstown' on Lake Wakatipu at Mt Nicholas Station. PHOTO: ODT FILES
The 'Spirit of Queenstown' on Lake Wakatipu at Mt Nicholas Station. PHOTO: ODT FILES
The Commerce Commission has cleared Queenstown tourism heavyweight RealNZ to acquire Spirit of Queenstown, previously owned by Southern Discoveries.

Subject to resource consent, it will be used to help regain some of the capacity lost on TSS Earnslaw, following changes to Maritime Rules in 2019.

In its decision, released yesterday, the commission said it was satisfied RealNZ’s acquisition was unlikely to substantially lessen competition in any New Zealand market.

"While RealNZ and Southern Discoveries both offer scheduled tourist cruises on Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, after considering a range of factors including the parties’ product offerings, pricing and passenger numbers, our investigation found that they do not compete closely," the decision said.

"Given this, the commission is of the view that there would not be a substantial loss of competitive constraint on RealNZ as a result of the acquisition."

In its earlier submission, RealNZ said the different experiences the boats offered meant they were not particularly close substitutes or competitors — Earnslaw offered transport across Lake Wakatipu and experiences at Walter Peak High Country Farm, while Southern Discoveries offered dining experiences while cruising on the lake.

Last month, RealNZ lodged resource consent with the Queenstown Lakes District Council to operate the 26m vessel to and from Walter Peak.

In its application, on hold for affected parties’ approval, RealNZ said prior to the global pandemic in 2020, Earnslaw and Walter Peak activities were operating near capacity — that was limited by the maximum number of passengers the historic steamship was able to carry, which at the time was 410.

However, after a suite of changes were made to Maritime Rules, administered by Maritime NZ, Earnslaw’s capacity dropped to 250.

Due to closed borders and the tourism downturn, the capacity reduction did not have a significant impact at the time, the application said.

"However, now that the borders are open once again and tourism is recovering, the reduction in capacity has put significant constraints on operations at Walter Peak, which in turn has significant financial implications for the company."

The application states to regain some of the capacity lost, the agreement was entered into with Southern Discoveries to buy the high-speed catamaran, which had previously operated primarily between Queenstown Bay and Mount Nicholas Station.

The new application seeks for Spirit of Queenstown to continue to operate on Lake Wakatipu per its present consent, but for it to also be allowed to include Walter Peak as an approved berthing and refuelling destination.

"The addition of the Spirit of Queenstown to the RealNZ fleet will provide capacity to transport 150 additional passengers to and from Walter Peak, with the intention being that the Spirit of Queenstown will run an alternating schedule synchronised with the Earnslaw, which has up to seven scheduled sailings from Queenstown per day during the peak summer season."

tracey.roxburgh@odt.co.nz

 

 

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