[Ab]

Could somebody please send out a search party and locate Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis?

I don't mean that literally. I know where he spent last week - at Parliament - which makes his absence from the Government's public response all the more gobsmacking.

The tourism sector is imploding, countless jobs are being lost, and many are left with a feeling of uncertainty.

We have seen the finance, education, media and social development ministers all head to the main podium to be held to account. But not Davis.

I know why. Davis struggles in front of the camera. There are no easy answers to this unprecedented crisis, and it takes a consummately skilled communicator to stand in the Beehive Theatrette, live on television, and answer questions when there are often no answers.

Davis proved an utter train wreck when he assumed the position of acting prime minister a few years ago. The Government can't afford to wheel him out again to flunk and fluster his way through a 40-minute press conference on the country's biggest export earner - his portfolio - tourism.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/...d-him-the-most