Queenstown welcomed nearly 2000 Aucklanders yesterday but things are still dire for businesses without international tourism, says mayor Jim Boult.
Passengers arriving in Queenstown on the first flight from Auckland on 15 December 2021. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
The first day of border-free travel boosted the number of people in Queenstown.
Queenstown mayor Jim Boult said people are excited but there's a bit of trepidation, with locals realising they might end up with Covid in the district.
"But generally, our economy needs a shot and this is it."
Boult says domestic business is usually about a third of the the total tourism spend.
"So things are pretty dire without the international spend, by hey, we are where we are."
'Businesses are literally hanging on by the skin of their teeth' - Queenstown mayor Jim Boult
Hearing from the tourism ministry that might be another year before international tourism resumes has cast "a pretty doomy mood around the town", he said.
"We're now almost two years since we said goodbye to our international visitors. Businesses are literally hanging on by the skin of their teeth."
The plan to allow tourists to enter the country if they isolate for seven days won't work, he said.
"Nobody's going to come here for a two or three week holiday and have to spend the first week sitting in a hotel room."
Migrant worker numbers in the town have dropped dramatically, with almost every restaurant in town is advertising for staff, he said.
"What we are saying to government is when you are going to open the borders and let visitors back in, you need to allow us to bring some workers in before that happens otherwise we're going to have a real shortage," he said.
"Aucklanders make up a massive percentage of domestic spend, we're very happy to have them back and certainly talking to businesses around town, there's quite a lot of excitement."
Several bars and restaurants spoken to by RNZ say business didn't really boom last night but predict better times are just around the corner.