PM opens ski season at Cardrona, urges Kiwis to visit

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's visit to the Queenstown Lakes district has started with her urging New Zealanders to visit their backyard.

Ms Ardern, who is visiting the hard-hit district today, made the comments  when addressing a crowd of about 400 skiers at the Cardrona Alpine Resort, which opened for business today.

While not a skier, Ms Ardern did not discount the possibility of returning to give it a go on another occasion when there were fewer cameras present.

In warm condition in bright sunshine she suggested there was no better place to visit in a world affected by Covid 19.

Ms Ardern is visiting the region with Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis.

Ahead of the visit there has been criticism from some in Queenstown that the minister has abandoned the region.

Fergburger Group general manager Stephen Bradley hopes the tourism minister comes prepared to open the government's cheque book.

So far none of their 130 staff have been made redundant, but Bradley said they will not be able to hold off cuts for much longer.

"The fear comes August September, and in particular October November, if we don't get the bubble open that is crunch time and businesses will go under. So I don't think anyone's really thinking that far ahead, but that is the reality, there is still a long road ahead when you're 85% reliant, your business, on overseas tourists and they're not coming."

He wants the tourism minister to front up with financial support for businesses and to give immigrant workers more security.

"We should have been visited a lot more, you know the bounce-back, we can't make decisions about our business, we can't plan, there's been no information, there's been no consultation, there's been no walking down the street to see us and talk to our people, so very surprised we haven't seen more - but I guess glad that they're here now."

Ziptrek Ecotours executive director Trent Yeo said it has been a tough couple of months.

"It's kind of like being a free diver and no one told you you needed to hold your breath, we've kind of gone into hibernation and come out the other side, one of the things is to keep morale and the team together and that's been always difficult.

"But we've gone from a fully formed summer business to probably less than 10% of our business upon opening on level 2."

Yeo said it is important for the tourism minister to be on the ground to see the damage.

"Maybe there's a bit of disconnection somewhere, I know ... that the government is checking in what's happening here, but it definitely would be good to see their actual support - this is a crisis - we feel like we need the support."

The government announced its $400 million Tourism Recovery Fund last month along with an extension to the wage subsidy scheme. 

With RNZ