Todd McClay is the MP for Rotorua and the National Party's spokesperson for Trade and Tourism.

It has been a difficult few months for many as the global Covid-19 crisis has cost jobs, livelihoods and businesses that people have spent their lives building up.

In Rotorua, where we rely heavily on tourism and hospitality, we have been hit hard. With a number of job losses already, sadly we can expect more as the economic effects of Covid-19 become more apparent.

I am concerned at what will happen when the Government's wage subsidy runs out in September and that's why we need a clear plan to get our economy growing again and create jobs.

Labour appears to have no plan other than to shovel money out the door and wait for a vaccine. That's not a plan. National has the plan and competent team to actually deliver it.

We have a strong track record managing economic crises including the Global Financial Crisis and Canterbury and Kaikoura earthquakes.

Under our Government, the economy was thriving, unemployment was low and businesses had the confidence to invest and grow.

Rotorua was growing at pace with a number of new developments and a booming tourism sector. We want to get back there.

I want to ensure that the people of Rotorua have every opportunity to achieve their goals and create the lives they want for themselves and their families.

For our community to thrive again, we need a stronger economy and more jobs. National has already announced our $10,000 JobStart scheme to incentivise businesses to hire new people and our GST cash refund of up to $100,000 for the small businesses most affected.

This would mean hundreds of businesses and countless jobs could be saved.

As National's Tourism spokesperson, I was pleased to announce our $100 million Tourism Accelerator recently, a grant programme that would help fund projects to get our tourism sector back on its feet.

It would provide direct cash support to businesses and tourism operators that are currently tossing up whether to re-open or shut up shop for good.

Until the border re-opens and international visitors have the confidence to travel safely, every business we can save means local people will keep their jobs.

The next three years will be spent rebuilding New Zealand's economy and National is the safe pair of hands that will deliver what New Zealander's need.

Over the next few months, I'll be making the case strongly that a National Government will deliver more for Rotorua than we have seen under Labour.