Access Tourism NZ TOURISM FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES, SENIORS, AND AGEING BOOMERS IN NEW ZEALAND AND WORLDWIDE

In 2011, New Zealand will host the Rugby World Cup (RWC2011).  In anticipation of this event, Tourism Auckland has run a series of “Visitor Ready Workshops”.  The workshops were a regional RWC2011 initiative funded by the councils of the region.  In a first for New Zealand, the sessions include one on access for people with disabilities.  Given by Auckland City Council Disability Advisor Minnie Baragwanath, the session can be viewed here on webcasts.  The workshop aimed to help Auckland tourism providers better understand the business opportunity and challenge of the often invisible disabilities market.  Minnie also manages the RWC2011 access work-stream.

Kevin Blackford, editor/Publisher of the New Zealand TravelMemo has written an insightful piece on mining and tourism in the Coromandel Peninsula, NZ (April 27, 2010).  While this debate is outside the general content of this website, it is reproduced here in its entirely with the authors permission because it is an important issue for New Zealand tourism.  The piece focuses on the Coromandel because it’s familiar territory to the writer, who grew up in the area. The same questions over mining vs tourism may well apply to the other areas due for removal from Schedule 4. There are pre-worded and editable submission forms on the websites of Coromandel Watchdog, NZ Greenpeace and Forest and Bird. Overseas readers are also permitted to make submissions. The Ministry of Economic Development (www.med.govt.nz) submissions deadline is 5pm Tuesday 04 MAY.

With one week to go until the closing deadline for submissions, thousands of people have already made them online to the Ministry of Economic Development commenting on its plan to open up previously protected areas of the conservation estate to allow mining. While Gerry Brownlee talks of a $54 billion mineral bonanza under the Coromandel Peninsula, his ministry has yet to actually undertake a technical investigation there. The annual royalties (just $6.5m from gold last year), plus the tax take and associated job creation would amount to only a fraction of that unproven total, yet this natural playground and its tourism revenues (Coromandel’s tourism industry has an estimated annual worth of $360 million and is growing at 5% pa. For the year ended FEB10 Coromandel’s domestic guest nights were up 7.4% and its international guest nights were up 11%. FEB was the first time ever that international guest nights exceeded domestic for the month) are to be risked in the search for a goldmine.

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IHC (Living with Intellectual Disability in New Zealand) has released the last issue of “Hot Issues” for 2009.

In it, they note that the year started with bright promise. In 2008:

• New Zealand ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• The Social Services Select Committee reported on its inquiry into the quality of care and service provision for disabled people
• The long-term disability support services review was released
• The first review of the 2001 New Zealand Disability Strategy was reported

IHC questions, however, whether there has been any actual improvement in the lives of people with intellectual and other disabilities this year.

This last Hot Issues for 2009 summarises the year’s issues, achievements, and disappointments.

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