Watchdog concerned about $290m in tourism handouts

Watchdog concerned about $290m in tourism handouts
Bungy NZ received more than $10 million in funding for a 'strategic' asset. (Image: supplied)
Brent Melville
Auditor general John Ryan has raised concerns about how funding decisions were made under the $290 million covid ‘strategic tourism’ protection programme.The Strategic Tourism Assets Protection Programme (STAPP) was rolled out in May 2020, applications closed in mid-June and assessments, based on a ‘high trust’ model, were made in July of that year.The programme was part of an overall $400m funding stream set up for tourism at the time, aimed at protecting ‘strategically significant’ tourism assets from faili...

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