John Key has recently been in China, along with a number of NZ business people. One of the deals he was proud to announce was a deal to bring 10,000 Amway sales staff for a 5-day trip to Queenstown, 500 at a time. Although they would have training sessions while they were in Queenstown, there would also be time for sightseeing and shopping. The first group would come in Autumn 2018.
While this is good news for the tourist industry – hotels, shops, Air NZ, and the companies which offer attractions like jet boating and sky diving – there is also a concern that Queenstown does not have enough hotel beds. Nor does it have a convention centre yet. Queenstown is a small town with a population of less than 30,000 in the whole district. However, most tourists come in the summer between December and March, or in the winter months for skiing. The contract with Amway is for spring and autumn.
Already many more Chinese tourists visited NZ this year than ever before, especially around the time of Chinese New Year. Tourists from China now make up the second largest group of tourists, with 400,000 people visiting. Australians are still the number one – 1.4 million Australians visited NZ last year.
Vocabulary
• a deal – a business contract
• convention centre – large building for conferences
Questions
1. What are some of the problems with more tourists in a small town?
2. Will more tourists in Queenstown mean that tourism will increase in other parts of New Zealand?
3. While the dairy industry was our most important industry, milk prices have dropped recently. Is tourism a better industry for our economy?