Moncrieff Media

Kiwis will fly

21 August 2009

Shadow Tourism Minister and local MP Steven Ciobo welcomes the moves to reduce the cost and effort to fly between New Zealand and the Gold Coast.

Mr Ciobo said the streamlining of border processing and the potential reduction of the passenger movement charges would hopefully usher in a boom in Kiwi visitors to the Coast.

“If this move does cut flight costs by 20 to 30 per cent as some industry bodies are predicting, then that’s a great development for local tourism operators,” said Mr Ciobo.

“New Zealand’s our biggest market with almost 207,000 visitors spending $223 million a year, but the numbers have been going down, so hopefully this move will help turn that around.”

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key announced the initiative at Federal Parliament today.

Mr Ciobo was highly critical of Labor’s increases to the passenger movement charge in the 2008 Budget which imposed almost $1 billion in new taxes on the industry.

“Labor’s increased taxes came at precisely the wrong time for the industry, so hopefully this will go some way to helping operators back on their feet.”