As New Zealand lifts Covid lockdowns, some small towns ask tourists to stay away
Local leaders, particularly in vulnerable Mori communities, fear travellers could bring the virus with them
Every summer, with Christmas and New Year stacked in the middle of the hot season, city-dwelling New Zealanders pack their car boots and make for the beaches, festivals and campgrounds dotting the country's coastlines and remote forests.
As the country prepares to lift its last lockdowns, prime minister Jacinda Ardern has promised that the classic kiwi summer" will roll on. But this year, there are fears that packed among their chilly bins and camping chairs, holidaymakers will bring other baggage - infectious particles of Covid-19, carried to communities ill-prepared to greet it. In the face of that prospect, leaders of some of New Zealand's small towns and settlements have returned to prospective holidaymakers with a blunt message: please stay away.
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