By Sia Aston
Prime Minister John Key today announced a safety review for our adventure tourism industry.
It stems from a letter Key received from the grieving father of British backpacker Emily Jordan, who drowned in a river boating accident last year.
Her parents are warning others not to come here for adventure because safety standards are not up to scratch, but Key wants to prove them wrong.
“I believe it could damage our industry if we don’t meet those very high standards and it’s incumbent on me as a minister of tourism and Prime Minister to protect New Zealand’s international reputation,” he says.
So he is launching an investigation of the entire sector.
“It’s important for people to understand that if they engage in some of this activity it can be risky, but it’s also important they are afforded the protection and care that we would expect.”
Key says cowboy operators who do not provide that protection and care will be shut down.
But the industry is quick to argue that few operators could be called cowboys.
“Our view is that our reputation has actually been built on the non-cowboy factor, we’ve got professional operators, professional risk managers,” says Geoff Ensor of the Tourism Industry Association.
But the Jordans have campaigned with a different story. They claim a lot of these companies have no safety regulations or procedures, no staff training and no safety equipment.
Key says that message could cost us, but he is hoping this review will weed out the bad from the good and clean up our industry’s reputation.
3 News