Nadine Toe Toe and her family run the Kohutapu Lodge and Tribal Tours in Murupara, a village in the northeast with about 2,000 inhabitants, of whom about 90% are Maori. Before the pandemic, about 98% of the company’s customers came from abroad.
“We wanted to create a really true and real cultural experience that would show our history, but also our reality,” said Toe Toe, 43. “When Covid went on strike and we lost all of our business overnight, we suddenly came across the reality that the domestic market does not make ‘cultural products’ – it is not on the priority list.”
To attract local visitors, the business had to change its name, she said. This meant failing to offer an immersive experience of contemporary Maori culture, which many New Zealanders can already believe they know well.
“Before Covid, our culture was always at the forefront – that we can proudly be there and tell the world who we are, where we came from, why it is important to be a Maori,” she said. “We are no longer a cultural tourism experience. We are now a lakeside accommodation. “
Larger companies are also struggling. “We are suffering, there is no doubt about it,” said Sir John Davies, 79, a businessman who owns several ski fields, guided hikes on the Routeburn and Milford slopes and the Hermitage Hotel at Mount Cook National Park.
Recently, he said, the Hermitage had 20 guests, compared to about 600 in a typical year. He had to cut the hotel staff from 230 to less than 50. “The turnover was $ 18,000 yesterday – the lowest amount I’ve seen in 25 years,” he said. “We are doing everything possible to attract national tourists. I mean, we always did. “
Tourist spots around the world, from New York to the Himalayas, have struggled without tourists’ money. In Bali, Indonesia’s vacation spot, some hospitality workers have returned to work in agriculture. Some places, like Istanbul, have tried to survive. Others, like Hawaii, are reopening nervously.