Tourism New Zealand’s SOS

Reports from New Zealand say that Tourism New Zealand offices throughout the world have been sent an SOS as a result of concerns that the gunpoint abduction of a Dutch couple will damage the country’s reputation.

It appears that Tourism New Zealand has asked its international offices to monitor media coverage of the kidnapping of the couple in the Bay of Islands at the weekend, a serious set back for New Zealand’s reputation as a safe destination.

NZ faced a further setback early yesterday when a 20-year-old South Korean woman was robbed of cash and her bank card by two men outside the Christchurch District Court and although she was not injured, police said that she was left extremely shaken.

Bay of Islands police are seeking public help to identify the two men who abducted the Dutch newlyweds, who were attacked, sexually assaulting the woman in their campervan late on Friday at Haruru Falls, near Paihia.  

Reports from NZ say that the ordeal lasted several hours as they were driven around and forced to withdraw cash from automatic teller machines being left in their campervan at the tiny settlement of Towai, 15km south of Kawakawa, early on Saturday.

Tourism New Zealand spokeswoman Cas Carter confirmed to media that the organisation had sent messages to its missions in New Zealand’s major markets to report back on how the attack was being reported, saying, “There’s likely to be media coverage because this is such a horrific crime and it’s certainly not going to enhance our reputation.”  “New Zealand has a reputation as being not only beautiful, but also very hospitable, and this flies in the face of that, but hopefully, the coverage will also show that New Zealand doesn’t take this sort of thing lightly.”

Report by The Mole.