Photo: Jude GilliesThe proposed mothballing of the Hermitage Hotel in Aoraki/Mt Cook, with the likely loss of about 170 staff, has "come as a shock" in the area, Cr Matt Murphy, of the Mackenzie District Council, says. Cr Murphy, whose Pukaki ward includes the Mt Cook Village and the famous hotel, said he had known nothing about the matter until he had read a media report today. The proposed mothballing would adversely affect the village and Twizel, where many hotel employees lived. Although tourism businesses, including in Queenstown, had been hard hit by the Asian financial crisis,starting in 1997, there had been domestic tourism to fall back on, but this was much worse. New Zealand tourism would rebound in time, and he believed New Zealanders would be keen to support the Hermitage as soon as they could.

Source: Otago Daily Times May 01, 2020 09:33 UTC