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Speaker 1: Ever do the cl tough annual result for tourism holdings today,

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Speaker 1: but the Campavan Company is still bullish about the future.

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Speaker 1: THHL has posted a net loss after tax of nearly

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Speaker 1: twenty six million dollars, but that includes a number of

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Speaker 1: one off adjustments as such as non cash impairments and

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Speaker 1: so on. The company is still confident that it will

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Speaker 1: exceed one hundred million dollar net profit after tax a

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Speaker 1: year on average over the next three to four years.

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Speaker 1: Grant Webster is Tourism Holding CEO and with us he

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Speaker 1: Grant good a.

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Speaker 2: How are you?

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Speaker 1: I'm well, thank you. Do you reckon you're through the

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Speaker 1: worst of it?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we do. We think that we've passed the bottom

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Speaker 2: of the cycle learnings and as we say, you know,

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Speaker 2: it's an inflection point. We're ready to charge ahead.

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Speaker 1: Now why do you think you're through the worst of it?

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Speaker 2: Well, look, the first primary thing is we're a core

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Speaker 2: of our business is about rental revenue and that tourism

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Speaker 2: environment still remains really, really positive. Then on top of that,

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Speaker 2: we've got ahead of the sort of defleet excess issues

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Speaker 2: that we've had over the last the twelve eighteen months.

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Speaker 2: And the third one is we've got some really good

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Speaker 2: cost savings coming through the business. So you put those

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Speaker 2: three things together and it definitely looks more positive than

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Speaker 2: the outlook.

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Speaker 1: Did I see somewhere that you're considering or are selling

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Speaker 1: off the UK division?

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Speaker 2: It's under I know that it's political terms, but it's

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Speaker 2: under strategic reviews. So we're not saying definitely that we'll

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Speaker 2: sell it. But look that business has got about sixty

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Speaker 2: million dollars worth of funds New Zealand dollars and it's

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Speaker 2: not delivering a profit, has it for a little while.

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Speaker 2: So it's right for us to challenge ourselves pretty harshly

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Speaker 2: on where it sits and why it's with the business.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what about the tariffs? How are you finding them?

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Speaker 2: Well, not a lot of fun, to be fair, I guess.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's interesting customers from the EU to the

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Speaker 2: US have been talking about price borders, and you know

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Speaker 2: the tariff's been the Trump drifector. So what is it

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Speaker 2: that really motivates and go to the US At the moment.

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Speaker 2: It's been challenging this year, but we see some upside

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Speaker 2: next year, but not for a few months to come.

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Speaker 1: Hey, what happened to the buyer? Why did that fall over?

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Speaker 2: Well? On August the fourth, we gave the feedback to

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Speaker 2: BGH Consortium that we thought the value of TL was

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Speaker 2: well north of three dollars. That offered two dollars thirty

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Speaker 2: this year. So it's been quite since then. So we'll

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Speaker 2: see what happens from here.

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Speaker 1: Okay, do you are you expecting something else? Maybe like

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Speaker 1: a little rethink?

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Speaker 2: Well, no doubt they are thinking to some extent, but

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Speaker 2: we know from watching what they do with other situations

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Speaker 2: that they'll either hold and what or who knows what,

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Speaker 2: So not really for us to speculate, but it'll be interesting.

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Speaker 1: Grant, what do you reckon we need to do to

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Speaker 1: get tourists back in this country the way that they

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Speaker 1: were with us pre COVID. Is that even a good idea.

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Speaker 2: Yes, it's a good idea. We have plenty of space

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Speaker 2: and availability in this country. We can definitely get back

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Speaker 2: to our pre COVID level numbers and beyond. Yes, there

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Speaker 2: are some infrastructure things that need to be sorted out

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Speaker 2: in places like Queen's Down, but don't let that stop

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Speaker 2: the ambition of tourism getting ahead of dairy again from

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Speaker 2: an export earning perspective, So what do we need to do.

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Speaker 2: We need to increase their capacity and that's been an issue.

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Speaker 2: We need to invest in events, and we need to

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Speaker 2: out the cruise industry. And we do those three things

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Speaker 2: and I think you'll see that numbers will really start

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Speaker 2: to increase dramatically.

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Speaker 1: Are you talking about investing in events in Auckland in particular.

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Speaker 2: Well, Auckland is the center of events in the country,

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Speaker 2: but you look in December last year, we had a

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Speaker 2: record December because of the World iron Man Games that

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Speaker 2: were on in Tulpo. So it doesn't have to be

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Speaker 2: Auckland centric. It can be across the country. To look

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Speaker 2: at the fief of Woman's World Cup. That made a

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Speaker 2: huge difference across the country. So let's not get overly

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Speaker 2: Auckland centric. But of course that's where most of the

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Speaker 2: events are held.

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Speaker 1: I'm trying to figure out what went wrong. I mean,

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Speaker 1: we had all of these fantastic events and now we

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Speaker 1: don't anymore. So what happened?

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Speaker 2: We stopped funding it?

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Speaker 1: Who did well?

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Speaker 2: Across the board? We the government funding that was going

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Speaker 2: into large scale events reduced and we haven't been supporting

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Speaker 2: them to the same extent, from both local councils and

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Speaker 2: central government.

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Speaker 1: Okay, I know that Auckland Council's funding dropped off, but

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Speaker 1: are you saying the government's central government's funding dropped off too.

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Speaker 2: We have not had the same amount of major event

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Speaker 2: funding as we did pre COVID.

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Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, yeah, I think you might have a good

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Speaker 1: point there actually, And how do you feel about the

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Speaker 1: economy in New Zealand? You reckon, we've turned a corner.

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Speaker 2: Oh, turning slowly. It's interesting, as you know, TL operates

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Speaker 2: around the world. We certainly see Australia as in a

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Speaker 2: better place than New Zealand right at the moment, and

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Speaker 2: from a tourism perspective, I think it's got a really

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Speaker 2: positive few years. A hit Canada actually has all the

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Speaker 2: tariff issues going on, but feels reasonably positive. New Zealand

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Speaker 2: definitely turning the corner. We've seen that in our action

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Speaker 2: manufacturing business is starting to get some contracts and transport

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Speaker 2: and so forth again, so starting to turn the corner.

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Speaker 2: But some time to come, you.

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Speaker 1: Know, Grant. I feel like obviously a lot of what

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Speaker 1: we've gone through is is the whiplash that is the

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Speaker 1: result of all of the COVID spending and stuff like that.

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Speaker 1: So there's been like really crappy management of the economy,

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Speaker 1: both fiscally and monetary that we're now paying for. But

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Speaker 1: I wonder also, I'm starting to feel as if maybe

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Speaker 1: some of this is us just having to take the

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Speaker 1: medicine for some bad things we've been doing, like investing

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Speaker 1: in housing and stuff, and perhaps this is a correction

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Speaker 1: that we've been that's long overdue. Is that possible?

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Speaker 2: I look, it's entirely possible. I think when you look

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Speaker 2: at New Zealand's ambition, it feels like that's a bit

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Speaker 2: of what we've lost. Yeah, you know, you look at

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Speaker 2: that attitude to say, actually we're going to take on

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Speaker 2: the rest of the world, We're going to grow into

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Speaker 2: other countries. You know, it's all everything seems sluggish and

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Speaker 2: so yeah, I look, I'm a firm believer and the

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Speaker 2: whole let's stay positive, let's be realistic about where we are,

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Speaker 2: and I think tourism is a good example of that. Right,

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Speaker 2: we really can grow this economy if we're open to

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Speaker 2: these kind of tourism opportunities. So let's get on with it.

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Speaker 1: So what is it that caused us to lose our ambition?

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Speaker 2: I do personally, I definitely think it was just that

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Speaker 2: drag of COVID and for some reason, when I look

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Speaker 2: around the rest of the world, other countries just and

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Speaker 2: I travel a fair bit for this business, other countries

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Speaker 2: feel like they're just leant into things and just got

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Speaker 2: on with things. To a greater extent, we seem to

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Speaker 2: have got ourselves into a bit of a rut. But

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Speaker 2: as you said, maybe turning the corner.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, hopefully. Hey, Grant, thank you was always I really

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Speaker 1: appreciate talking to you. That's Grant Webster, Tourism Holding CEO.

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