Source: Radio New Zealand
Roads around Mauao at Mount Maunganui reopened on Friday 6 February. RNZ/Angie Skerrett
The owner of a Mount Maunganui pizzeria which has only just reopened after the deadly Mauao landslide says revenue is half what it would usually be in summer.
Michele Delaini is the owner of Rustica Italian Food pizzeria on Adams Avenue opposite Mauao which has only just re-opened this week.
He said it was like winter trading conditions at the height of summer.
“We’re lacking like all the people from the campground, the hot pools and definitely like all the people that every day come to the Mount.”
The Mount track was still closed and the streets in the area were very quiet compared to what it was usually like in the summer, he said.
Usually during summer the Mount’s population at least doubles but now the area was lacking visitors and tourists, he said.
It was more like a winter season and the cruise ships were choosing to go elsewhere because people could not explore the Mount, he said.
Neighbouring businesses were seeing the same downward trend and being forced to reduce their opening hours, he said.
“It’s just not enough business to be opened all day long, or like what we usually do.”
Delaini said he was having ongoing conversations with Tauranga City Council which was trying to support businesses in the area.
But he said he was not sure if the council alone would be able to bear the cost of helping all the businesses in the affected area.
Central government needed to provide some financial support for businesses, he said.
“For us businesses it’s very hard because summer time is where we collect all the money also for the winter, to carry us through the winter.”
With businesses being hit so hard at the height of the summer, “the government will have to understand that council alone cannot do it,” he said.
Rustica Italian Food pizzeria on Adams Avenue in Mount Maunganui is located opposite Mauao. Google Maps
Businesses were not able to turn to their insurers to fix the situation, he said.
If the business was not directly affected by the disaster but was “closed because of a consequence” only 10 percent of their losses would be covered, he said.
It was very worrying that there was no clear indication of when or if Mount Maunganui or the hot pools would reopen, he said.
Locals were sensitive about the situation and wanted to mourn what had happened, he said.
“There is the dichotomy, so you know like there is the grief and there is the wanting to go back to normal life and it can be challenging.”
But locals are trying to support local businesses and want to see the community return to how it was, he said.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
