Our region needs direct flights to Christchurch
It’s now 18 months since regular Air New Zealand flights began between Kapiti Airport and Auckland. I’ve travelled this route many times and it’s a great service.
Having a direct connection to our biggest city has proved very convenient for both business and leisure travellers. For locals it’s far easier than having to drive all the way to Wellington and provides an alternative to Palmerston North airport.
The Kapiti Airport Business Park is now open and looking to expand, and once Transmission Gully and the Kapiti expressway are complete, our region will be better connected than ever before.
I believe the next step forward should be direct flights to and from Christchurch. This is our second biggest city and as the rebuild gathers steam it will become a busy destination.
I’ll be talking to Air New Zealand about the potential benefits this extra connection could bring.
Tourism is one of New Zealand’s most important industries so it’s important that Kapiti and Horowhenua are well connected.
Recently Prime Minister John Key announced the Government will be investing $158 million into tourism over the next four years to attract international visitors.
More visitors means more spending in shops, hotels, cafes, restaurants and businesses right throughout the country
A major priority is to focus on new markets and visitors who spend more.
Traditionally we’ve relied on tourists from places such as Australia, the UK and USA. These are still very important, and $24.5 million will be spent on boosting these markets.
But we also need to expand our focus, so we are investing another $44.5 million to attract visitors from places such as Latin America, Indonesia and India.
These places have growing wealth, increasing numbers of people who want to travel, and are geographically closer to us than many other countries
Along with China, which is already our second-biggest tourist market, we can expect to see high growth in the number of tourists coming from these countries. The Prime Minister’s recent visits to China and Latin America have shown the huge potential for tourism and trade from these places.
Of course our region offers a lot for domestic travellers and we need to continually promote what we have to offer.