26 Jun 2012

Blumsky says Niue tourism push will benefit even smaller operators

7:09 pm on 26 June 2012

New Zealand's High Commissioner to Niue, Mark Blumsky, says efforts are being made to get small accommodation providers to upscale so they can take full advantage of the New Zealand funded tourism push.

Some of them say they can't compete with cheap deals provided by bigger operations like the Matavai Resort which have investment from the New Zealand government.

Mr Blumsky says six million US dollars in aid money went into constructing new rooms, not subsidising cheap deals and the trust-run Matavai still has to provide a return to its board.

"It's all to do with building a critical mass to be effective in the market so that the wholesalers want to deal with you. Hence our encouragement of trying to get these four and five room operators to scale up a bit to understand the exciting opportunities and maybe invest in their business."

Mark Blumsky says tourism investment and strategies should flow on to other operators even in the off-season.