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Speaker 1: With tourism starting to make a comeback, there's calls for

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Speaker 1: the government to get its checkbook ready if it plans

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Speaker 1: to welcome more tourists to our shores. Just over three

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Speaker 1: hundred and twenty one thousand tourists came to the country

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Speaker 1: in November. That's eighty six percent of pre pandemic figures

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Speaker 1: from the same month in twenty nineteen. The new Minister

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Speaker 1: for Economic Growth and Nicola Willis, has set her sights

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Speaker 1: on a wealthier economy, saying attracting more tourists would help

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Speaker 1: to make that happen. Queenstown mag Lin, Lewis joins me. Now,

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Speaker 1: good to have you with us.

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Speaker 2: Glynn, good morning. Hey.

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Speaker 1: Tourism's bounced back in Queenstown pretty well, hasn't it.

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Speaker 2: It has its bounced back pretty hard and fast post pandemic.

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Speaker 2: And I think we've which new heights over the last

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Speaker 2: summer seeing the amount of people have come just the

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Speaker 2: last couple of weeks.

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Speaker 1: So would you welcome more tourists.

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Speaker 2: I'd welcome Morris. There is a proviso that the infrastructure

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Speaker 2: to support and accommodate more tourists and visitors is accounted for.

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Speaker 1: Your voting package gets thrown out a lot as being

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Speaker 1: the answer to everything. What else do you need?

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Speaker 2: Look that sustainable investment in actually providing that sed infrastructure

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Speaker 2: that both residents and visitors use. I think that needs

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Speaker 2: to be really well thought through and if that can happen, Yeah,

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Speaker 2: I think we have the capacity to have more tourists.

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Speaker 2: But even the simple things like making sure that we

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Speaker 2: have enough let's say, air traffic control, talent to to

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Speaker 2: air functioning, airport investment, and customs security, those sorts of things,

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Speaker 2: Because I can tell you now that having an airport,

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Speaker 2: an international airport here, those are the sorts of things

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Speaker 2: when I talk to my airport, we've talked about our airport.

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Speaker 2: Those are the sorts of things that actually can get

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Speaker 2: in the way of actually allowing international visitors into the country.

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Speaker 1: Nikola Willis has hindered at making changes to visas to

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Speaker 1: help bring in more tourists. What do you think of that?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I actually do welcome that. I think there's actually

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Speaker 2: opportunity to go even further, especially in welcoming behind end

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Speaker 2: entrepreneur technology skill set. I think, yeah, that's a good start.

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Speaker 2: I've got a few more ideas that I'll suggest to me.

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Speaker 2: She makes her way down here at some stage.

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Speaker 1: And if you look at it a little bit more broadly,

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Speaker 1: you know, not just in Queenstown's sort of situation, but

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Speaker 1: how can the government support the growing number of visitors

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Speaker 1: do you think across the country.

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Speaker 2: Look, my view is actually sort out points of entry first,

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Speaker 2: So there's from my reckoning, there's probably four points of

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Speaker 2: entry Auckland ranked and christ Divisi in Queenstown. When it

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Speaker 2: comes to national visitors through airports, sort those points of

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Speaker 2: entry out so the experience for the visitor when they

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Speaker 2: first arrives and makes and make sure that that distribution

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Speaker 2: outside those points of entry is as simple and as

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Speaker 2: easy as possible. So you regionalize extra tourism. It's as

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Speaker 2: easy as possible. Because last time they tried this, they

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Speaker 2: didn't do it and it just clogged up. It just

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Speaker 2: made a mess of Queenstown and back and let's say

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Speaker 2: the mid twenty ten, that's what we're really consumed about.

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Speaker 1: Glen. Look one, I've got you just wondering if you'd

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Speaker 1: like to comment on the Winter Games, which will no

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Speaker 1: longer be held in its current format kind of in

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Speaker 1: your neighborhood. It's a bit of a shame isn't it.

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Speaker 2: Oh yes, so I opened it two years ago. This

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Speaker 2: is this one hurts quite a bit because obviously I

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Speaker 2: knew On before his passing. He was a big player

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Speaker 2: in our district. And I think that's one's things a

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Speaker 2: little bit more because of the origins of the Winter Games. Look,

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Speaker 2: I feel so sorry for Sam and Marty would have

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Speaker 2: been Sam that year and made to World have been

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Speaker 2: just such a hard decision to make given the background.

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Speaker 2: But those economic conditions indexed was it to the European

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Speaker 2: currency for prize money and entries and please say, yeah,

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Speaker 2: real tough. Feel really sorry for the organization and really

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Speaker 2: disappointed because it was a huge event for our district

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Speaker 2: and outside outside of the district as well.

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Speaker 1: Dlen, thank you so much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Really appreciated. That was Queenstown May Glenn Lewis.

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