Prime Minister John Key is visiting Tauranga today, meeting with the Chamber of Commerce and visiting the oiled wildlife site at Te Maunga.

He is also going to visit the Maritime New Zealand command centre at the former Foodtown supermarket.

Prime Minister John Key speaks at a public meeting in Papamoa last week about the Rena disaster.

The government is considering a package of support for businesses affected by the Rena incident and the meeting at the chamber is pivotal to this process.
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce CEO Max Mason says the meeting is to enable Key to get an idea of the impact Rena is having on the local marine and tourism industries.

'He will be meeting with some fisheries operators so he can get a handle on what their concerns are and the issues they are facing, and also to find out from the chamber what we will be providing back to his office,” says Max.

'My briefing is he is here to talk with fishing industry specifically, we will also have a tourism rep there who can relay what the impact is.

'It is mostly a fact finding mission by the Prime Minister to the chamber.”

The Chamber of Commerce is working with Tourism Bay of Plenty and industry representatives to analyse the affected industries and develop a model to more clearly understand the number and scale of people affected.

Visitor industry stakeholder meetings will be held on Tuesday 18 and Thursday 20 October at Classic Flyers at 5pm.