$3m ‘stimulus’ may go to tourism

27 March: Minister Wilkie Rasmussen revealed yesterday that government is thinking about scrapping its proposed $3 million economic stimulus package for businesses and adding it to the budget for tourism.

The minister says he is hoping $1 million of this will be added to the marketing budget for Aitutaki to help promote the island as a tourist destination over the next two years.

Rasmussen told the Aitutaki island council yesterday that finance minister Sir Terepai Maoate has pledged to put more money into tourism in the forthcoming annual budget.

Already CI Tourism has asked for an extra $1 million for tourism marketing in Australia and North America for the 2009-10 budget.

Rasmussen says he thinks if CI Tourism gets this extra funding, then the $3 million may be used to cover it, leaving another $2 million to cover the Aitutaki promotion and more.

The minister has made this announcement as he holds talks with the Aitutaki people on the controversial issue of Air Rarotonga’s Sunday flights to the island (see page 3).

Rasmussen says government hopes the people will support its efforts to help the Aitutaki economy by voting in support of Sunday flights when the promised referendum is held.

He has asked whether the people protesting the flights are against government or the flights.

He warned if the referendum shows the people don’t support Sunday flights continuing, then government will have no choice but to cut back on funding for marketing Aitutaki.

Rasmussen told the island council that he understood 70-80 percent of the workforce relied on tourism for an income and that stopping the Sunday flights could put people out of jobs.

He added that at a time of economic recession it would make the impact of hard times ahead even harder on the workforce. - Helen Greig in Aitutaki