RAL CEO Jono Dean –
Yesterday the New Zealand government announced new alert levels for COVID-19 and placed the country on Alert Level 2.
This means cutting non-essential domestic travel.
Our tourism operation is located in a relatively remote part of the country, with no large population base of visitors
close by. This means our visitors make a conscious decision to get in a vehicle or fly to come and see us.
It’s our desire to see New Zealand limit the spread of COVID-19 as quickly as possible and as a result of this new Alert
Level 2, we have made the decision to close the 2019/2020 summer season of our Sky Waka operations effective Monday 23rd
March 2020. This also includes our Ohakune and Taupo retail outlets. Our team will be in touch with anyone who has
purchased a ticket, or made a reservation for lunch or dinner for the future, to make other arrangements.
As you will appreciate, this will affect a significant number of people and is a challenging time for the tourism
industry and entire country. We ask that you respect our team by showing kindness and patience as we work through this.
This is a rapidly evolving situation and an unprecedented time in our company’s, and New Zealand’s history. We will
continue to update you with any changes or developments via our social media platforms and website.
We thank everyone who visited us over the summer to date, and given such great feedback about your experiences with us –
it’s been a fabulous first summer with the Sky Waka in operation.
For our winter guests, rest assured we will continue our planning and preparation for winter, and as soon as the
situation becomes clearer, we will update you.