Advocacy
The primary function of BYATA is to provide an advocacy forum for its members.
A working group within the BYATA Board specifically
focuses on the advocacy needs of BYATA members – facilitating the
expression of members' opinions, providing avenues to authorities and
government departments and establishing relationships with other
industry bodies.
These working groups address four key areas of advocacy:
AirBnB
Whilst we recognise the role AirBnB have to play in the New Zealand backpacker sector we remain concerned that many councils have failed to understand the full implications of unregulated accommodation and activity providers.
We continue to work alongside other national tourism industry bodies to urge councils across New Zealand to adopt policy in relation to AirBnB that;
- Ensures a regulatory level playing field is established and enforced in relation to compliance and rating.
- Establishes the health and safety of visitors as an overriding priority.
- Addresses unintended consequences upon local communities.
Qualmark
BYATA continue to stand in support of Qualmark as the industries mechanism for ensuring safe quality experiences for visitors to New Zealand.
We support Tourism New Zealand’s attempt to recognise high achievers within our sector through the 100% Pure Experience Awards and we look forward to congratulate recipients of the award in April.
Our advocacy team will continue to meet with Qualmark and provide you with updates on a regular basis throughout the year, and we welcome any feedback or questions you may have in relation to the Qualmark system.
Responsible Camping
The responsible camping issues continues to be divisive, not just within the backpacker and wider tourism sector but within communities throughout New Zealand. For this reason we acknowledge that implementation of consistent nationwide policy by central government is unlikely to occur and that councils will implement policy as they feel best meets the needs of their region. The BYATA advocacy team are available to assist members with approach to councils.
In the meantime we applaud central governments funding initiative to assist regions to provide adequate infrastructure, and we will continue to monitor progress.
Immigration
We acknowledge the governments need to manage migration in a way that best benefits New Zealand, however we urge government to ensure the implications of any changes to existing legislation are well considered and have been formulated following a robust consultation process with the backpacker sector.
Our priorities in 2019 are to;
- Lobby government to adopt a pragmatic and workable approach to the use of migrant labour.
- Ensure BYATA members are aware of the implications to their business of impending legislative change, particularly regarding eligibility and process.
Targeted Tourism Tax
The need for infrastructure funding resulting from increasing visitor numbers to New Zealand cannot be denied and we understand the need for both central government and councils to consider where this funding will come from. For this reason we support the return of a share of GST to regional councils, however we oppose any form of tourism levy or tax that directly targets the tourism sector as the benefits of visitors to the New Zealand economy and many New Zealand businesses are obvious.
We encourage any members who have concerns relating to this matter in their area to contact us and let us know how best we can support them.
