Tourism chiefs steeled for quakes backlash

The Christchurch earthquake and the more recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan is expected to start impacting soon on tourism in Rotorua.But tourism operators are confident the drop-off will not last long.

So far, hundreds of tourism cancellations have been made at some of Rotorua's big attractions following February's Christchurch disaster, with many Asian tours in particular cancelled.Tourism operators say it is too soon to know how much the Japanese tragedy will affect travel from Asia and Japan in the coming months but they expect there will be an impact.

Inbound Tour Operators' Council member Stuart Brown, from Rainbow Springs, said some tours were cancelled immediately after the Christchurch earthquake but some had since started re-booking for April.As a result of Friday's tragedy in Japan, New Zealand and Rotorua were sure to see a decline in Japanese tourists in the near future, Mr Brown said.

"[The Japanese] are pretty sensitive. They were the first to stop travelling following the Sars outbreak ... fortunately a lot of consumers who come from Japan to New Zealand are from Osaka and Tokyo and they might still prefer to travel ... we will see an impact with less Japanese coming into New Zealand - just how much we don't know yet."

Agrodome managing director Warren Harford said the Christchurch earthquake had prompted 700 to 800 cancellations but some of that business was now being re-booked.Many who had cancelled were from Japan with other cancellations from Australia, India and other countries.

Mr Harford said though Rotorua was not affected by the Christchurch earthquake, some overseas people were not aware of the geography of New Zealand and thought the whole country was affected.However, business was picking up again with recent interest from Korean and Chinese groups.Mr Harford said the city was doing what it could to keep tourists coming. "Rotorua is saying to the world 'Rotorua is still here'."

Agrodome representatives had recently been in Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia and more were heading to Australia for marketing purposes, Mr Harford said.Skyline Rotorua had about 450 cancellations after the Christchurch quake, general manager Neville Nicholson has told The Daily Post.

New Zealand Hotel Council Rotorua chairman Fraser McKenzie said the earthquake had definitely affected the city's hotels."Rotorua has experienced a flux, as has all tourism throughout New Zealand in booking numbers. It's a completely normal reaction to quite a disastrous event."

However, he was already seeing a turnaround and in four to six weeks expected business levels to be back to normal, Mr McKenzie said.He did not think the Rugby World Cup tourism in Rotorua would be affected by what happened in Christchurch.

"Rotorua is going to benefit and it's going to be a fantastic time," he said.Rotorua Association of Motels chairman Glenn Stafford said as far as he was aware motels had not suffered since the Christchurch quake and it was too early to know what impact the Japan disaster would have.

Source = rotoruadailypost.co.nz