One of the suggestions at a “jobs summit” a few months ago was a cycleway down the length of New Zealand. Absolutely brilliant idea, but it looks as though it won’t quite work out like that. Instead there will be a network of “Great Rides” that eventually will all link up. I think this is actually a much more practical way of going about it.
The Finance Minister didn’t want to cough up the $50m, but the Prime Minister, who is also the Tourism Minister, seems to have put the hard word on him. Good stuff. But this article from The Press had a great quote in it:
“The Government will put $50 million into a national cycleway as part of a plan to take tourism upmarket, ditching the focus on backbackers and package tourists.”
Are they serious? Cycle tourist are upmarket? Apparently they stay more than twice as long as the average tourist, but only spend 1.6 times as much – i.e. they’re spending less each day. It is easy to cut accommodation costs when you sleep in abandoned buildings. But would you seriously describe these guys as upmarket?
