Tourism and the West Coast – how and what to save

Tourism and the West Coast – how and what to save
Franz Josef glacier – shrinking along with West Coast tourist dollars.
Pattrick Smellie
From a line roughly at Hokitika and to the north, the West Coast appears to be holding its own in the covid-affected economy.There are no international tourists, but a steady stream of Kiwi travellers are accessing the northern part of the region in sufficient numbers to keep things ticking over.Backpacker hostels may be empty, but data prepared for Development West Coast by Infometrics shows the Buller district actually saw 4.6% higher tourist spending in December 2020 than the same month a year earlier.While tourist spending in the Grey distr...

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