Tania Burt has welcomed the Government’s decision to support the recovery of tourism after Covid-19 by investing $700,000 into Northland Inc.

The much-needed funding of $20.2 million was made available to Regional Tourism Organisation’s (RTOs) through the Strategic Tourism Assets Protection Programme announced as part of the Tourism Recovery Fund in this year’s Budget.

Ms Burt, General Manager Destination at the regional economic development agency, said that the funding injection, received through an application process, will support Northland Inc’s work in the three essential areas of destination management, industry capability and product development, and domestic marketing.

“This is fantastic news for our Northland Inc team, who have worked so hard over the past few months to make the most of the resources available to support businesses and improve the region’s visibility in the domestic market.

“With this significant central Government funding boost, we are now in a better position to positively impact the recovery of Northland’s tourism industry by partnering to roll out our new Northland-style domestic marketing campaign. It will enable us to support capability building and product development, while also positioning Northland for the future with cohesive and strategic destination management.”

Collaboration, she added, will be key to the success of these initiatives. “This is an area in which Northland has repeatedly demonstrated its strength, particularly during the pandemic where communities, businesses, agencies, industries and central and local Government worked effectively together to respond and begin to plan for recovery.”

Northland already has a traditional base of domestic visitation in place, and there has been some encouraging bounce-back spending over the weekends and recent school holidays.

“This is cause for encouragement to keep the industry moving in the right direction, and we look forward to supporting the long-term recovery with further activity,” Ms Burt said.

Northland Inc CEO Murray Reade described the funding as “great news” for the region. “This provides us with a wonderful opportunity to work with our partners to promote Northland. The industry has suffered in recent times and this investment will help to us move towards some form of recovery,” he said.

“I am particularly grateful to Tania and her team for their work in securing this funding and to those who supported her efforts, and, of course, to the Government in recognising the importance of the industry by making this investment.”

In confirming the Government funding, Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis said that the investment will “allow RTOs to support their local communities and tourism operators, stimulate regional demand, leverage Tourism New Zealand’s national marketing campaign and increase the industry’s capabilities”.

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