40% of tourism jobs lost; revenue almost halved
CHRISTCHURCH: Four out of every 10 tourism jobs in New Zealand were lost over the past year, a survey has found.
The survey by Tourism Industry Aotearoa also found tourism business revenues have on average been cut almost in half.
The results were released yesterday at the start of the Trenz Hui 2021 in Christchurch to set the scene for discussions on the future of the international tourism sector.
Respondents reported an average 40% reduction in their staff numbers since New Zealand's borders closed a year ago.
There were 225,384 people who were directly employed in the tourism industry preCovid19, so this equates to potentially up to 90,000 job losses.
The lower South Island experienced the biggest workforce drop, down 53%.
Sectors with a high reliance on international visitors experienced the biggest job losses. The culture and heritage sector was down 64% and tourism services down 61%, compared with holiday parks being down by 26%.
‘‘Threequarters of respondents said the Tasman bubble was important for their business survival,’’ TIA Chief Executive Chris Roberts said.
‘‘However, the biggest impediment to recovery, selected by almost twothirds of respondents, is the availability of staff.’’
The survey is the fourth that TIA has conducted over the past 12 months to assess tourism industry sentiment through the pandemic.
Twentytwo percent of respondents were not confident they will meet their staffing needs as international travellers return.
Businesses in Queenstown, Canterbury and Auckland, in particular, are finding it hard to fill vacancies, the survey found.
Fortythree percent of businesses said they needed to get back to at least threequarters of their preCovid annual turnover to remain viable.
Sixtyfive percent of respondents consider that the most important thing the Government can do is enable borders to be safely opened — 95% said opening up to other countries was important or very important to their business.
‘‘Respondents said they want clear leadership, and cooperation across industry and with Government to find solutions,’’ Mr Roberts said.