Border opening relief for hospitality sector

SOUTHLAND’S struggling hospitality industry finally has some light at the end of the tunnel after New Zealand opened its borders yesterday to reconnect with the world.

Immigration New Zealand is now allowing employers to bring workers to New Zealand if they are deemed critical.

Fiordland Community Board chairwoman Sarah Greaney said it was good news to have the borders open again as it brought hope to the region.

‘‘I’m excited to see the borders finally open.

‘‘It’s brought a massive element of relief as well to actually see things finally moving again.’’

She hoped the border opening would bring people in on working visas to fill the massive gaps in the Fiordland labour market.

‘‘There are a lot of businesses feeling really nervous about delivering really good service.’’

While the industry would have to hang on a little longer until the workforce started to filter through to the region, employers were looking at recruiting now.

‘‘We are already hearing anecdotally about travellers from other parts of the world coming in over the winter, not necessarily waiting until OctoberNovember when we would see people traditionally travelling again,’’ Mrs Greaney said.

Great South acting chief executive Ian Collier said it was early days and the impact of the border opening would depend on the number of workers filtering through.

‘‘The tourism industry is doing everything they can to attract staff but also give themselves the best chance to accommodate those tourists who choose to visit our region.

‘‘It’s going to be tough — I don’t doubt that.’’

Recovery would not be quick, as many people who had been working within the industry had moved on and the migrant labour was lost, Mr Collier said.

ILT chief executive Chris Ramsay said the hospitality industry would still have to do some belt tightening until the new workforce reached the front lines.

‘‘It’s a positive step in the right direction . . . I believe it will take months to wash through the system and benefit the labour shortage side of things.’’

While the trust’s sales had recovered in recent weeks to prepandemic levels, it was operating at lower staff levels than before.

In the interim a variety of cutbacks were being considered, including reducing some services by one day a week.

‘‘The demand has lifted so much we are struggling to service it on present staff numbers.’’