Tourism safety standards must be improved

Labour is urging John Key to throw his weight behind efforts to improve safety standards in our adventure tourism industry in light of concerns that the implementation of new rules is progressing too slowly.

“We sympathise with the families of visitors to New Zealand who have lost loved ones in adventure tourism accidents. We share their desire to see the industry’s safety standards improved,” said Labour’s Tourism Spokesperson Rino Tirikatene.

“Tourism is vital to our economy. If we are going to offer visitors’ experiences in adventure tourism, we must make sure it is safe.”

It is a real concern that it has taken so long for work to start on the new rules and that the auditing of operators may not be complete for a further three years, says Rino Tirikatene.

“It is time for John Key as Tourism Minister to step in and make sure the agencies involved have the resources they need to move more quickly to address safety concerns.

“His decision to fold the Ministry of Tourism into the Economic Development Ministry also hasn’t helped. It is an example of how shuffling the deckchairs can result in agencies losing sight of what is most important in the rush to restructure and make cuts.”