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Speaker 1: We do have domestically though, some good news for our

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Speaker 1: tourism sector Drift the hotel Hostels Australia, known currently in

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Speaker 1: christ Church. They're planning to open new branches in Auckland

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Speaker 1: and Wellington next year. This is a twenty two million

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Speaker 1: dollar investment in long term growth. James Dooland's the strategic

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Speaker 1: director at the Hotel Council and as well as James

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Speaker 1: Morning Mike, how are you very well? Indeed, thank you.

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Speaker 1: I've never heard of them. They are player.

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Speaker 2: There are new and emerging brand in quite a trendy

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Speaker 2: area at the moment. It's kind of reimagining the idea

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Speaker 2: of a backpacker and a hostel. It's an awesome idea

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Speaker 2: and I think they're going places.

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Speaker 1: Do we like backpackers?

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Speaker 2: Oh, we like all kinds of travelers. There's plenty of

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Speaker 2: room in New Zealand. We have three point nine million

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Speaker 2: visitors to New Zealand pre COVID and we should probably

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Speaker 2: be beyond five million today, but we're not, unfortunately.

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Speaker 1: Well exactly so where are we at with hotels? I'm

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Speaker 1: reading over the weekend. Too many in Auckland, not enough

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Speaker 1: in Queenstown. These guys are in is there a bullishness

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Speaker 1: about hotels and assets or not.

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Speaker 2: I wouldn't call it a bullishness. We've got to look

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Speaker 2: at what this is. This is in a particular market

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Speaker 2: segment and it's a small but significant investment flash packers

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Speaker 2: or backpackers. I don't think you're suddenly going to see

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Speaker 2: lots of high end luxury hotels. For example, in Alston,

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Speaker 2: Auckland and Wellington. Operating conditions are still pretty tough right now, right.

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Speaker 1: So do they build it and then the backpacker comes

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Speaker 1: or have they seen the backpacker and they thought, well,

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Speaker 1: we've better build a place for them to stay.

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Speaker 2: Well now, the first thing you've got to remember is

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Speaker 2: this is not like running an airline. Accommodation is incredibly competitive,

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Speaker 2: with lots of different ways to make money, lots of

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Speaker 2: different price segments. So this particular segment we lost a

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Speaker 2: lot of backpackers as a result of COVID. YHA isn't

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Speaker 2: around anymore, and so this particular segment they've got a

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Speaker 2: business plan, they've got an idea to gain market share,

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Speaker 2: and good on them. This is why the accommodation industry

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Speaker 2: is a wonderful industry.

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Speaker 1: I don't know whether this is in your wheelhouse, but

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Speaker 1: I'm also reading over the weekend the lack of I

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Speaker 1: didn't realize this, but there's a lack of capacity. I

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Speaker 1: thought we were back to capacity airlines wise. In other words,

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Speaker 1: we need more people. But does that concern the industry?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it does. And look, this has been something the

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Speaker 2: industry has been talking about ever since we shut the

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Speaker 2: door to international travelers, and fifty five percent of accommodation

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Speaker 2: sector revenues came from international travelers. That's why we need

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Speaker 2: to get more internationals back and air New Zealands. You know,

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Speaker 2: engine problems haven't helped. So yeah, we're an island nation.

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Speaker 2: We need lots of capacity if we want our city

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Speaker 2: centers and shops and bars and restaurants pump and filled

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Speaker 2: with people.

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Speaker 1: Are all strings being pulled as far as you're concerned.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think we could have hustled more New Zealands

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Speaker 2: since twenty nineteen. Other countries around the world did things

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Speaker 2: like waiving visa fees or even dropping their vat or GST.

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Speaker 2: New Zealand's kind of always assumed that tourism would come back,

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Speaker 2: and it will. It will come back, but it's been

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Speaker 2: slower than it might have been if we'd pulled all

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Speaker 2: the strings to.

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Speaker 1: Use your tem Good on you, James. Nice to talk

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Speaker 1: to you, James Dillon. So we wish drift to all

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Speaker 1: the very best. Spain's going gangbusters on tourism. More on

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Speaker 1: that later on in the program and Sadema now the

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Speaker 1: hotel brand. I note over the weekend they say their words.

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Speaker 2: Not mine.

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Speaker 1: They are desperate and part of their desperation in place

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Speaker 1: like Auckland is we do not have enough events. What

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Speaker 1: we need are more event For more from the Mic

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Speaker 1: Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks it'd be from

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Speaker 1: six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio