NZMCA limits its membership to Kiwis

The New Zealand Motor Caravan Association has decided to limit its membership to New Zealand residents only.

Applicable immediately, the new criteria has been implemented by the NZMCA Board to protect the organisation’s reputation and the integrity of the Certified Self-Containment Standard.

“In todays’ environment, reputation is everything,” says NZMCA CEO Bruce Lochore. “Our members’ good name has been hard won over many years and we can’t afford to have it undermined by short-stay overseas visitors who might not share the same commitment to protecting our country’s natural environment.”

Mr Lochore says the membership restriction follows a recent Board decision to no longer offer Certified Self-Containment checks to non-members and comes on the back of this year’s NZMCA-financed review of the Self-Containment Standard.

“We’ve put our money where our mouth is to raise the bar on the Standard and it’s vital in our view that we reinforce our stand by ensuring that all our members understand and respect our role in protecting New Zealand’s precious environment.

“Our local members live and work in communities just like the ones they holiday in; so we’re confident they have that understanding. But we’re not prepared to risk our reputation on overseas visitors who don’t have the same long-term commitment to our country.

“What we’ve seen since we stopped providing self-containment checks to non-members is more overseas visitors looking to join the Association to get around the ban. So we’re going to nip that trend in the bud.”

In implementing the membership restriction, Mr Lochore says the Board also recognised that the Association’s primary focus was to meet the needs of local people.

“This is who we are, we are here to represent New Zealanders – we’re not here to be used by short-stay overseas visitors. “We’re all about the domestic market; for the past four years, we have been actively encouraging our members to get off the beaten track to ensure the provincial and rural centres outside the traditional ‘hotspots’ receive a fairer share of the economic benefits of tourism. “It’s often under-valued, but the fact is the domestic market provides close on 60 percent of this country’s tourism industry revenue and we’re proud to be part of that.”

For more information, contact:
Bruce Lochore,
NZMCA CEO (027) 298 5647