New Zealand is open for business. Photo Credit: Johnny Hendrikus
The full reopening of New Zealand's borders is expected to deliver confidence to international event organisers to choose the country as a future conference, meeting, or incentive destination, says Business Events Industry Aotearoa (BEIA) chief executive Lisa Hopkins.
Hopkins believes the decision will gear New Zealand up for a strong future, especially with new infrastructure coming online.
But not everybody is as confident.
General manager of events at 212f, Adam Leslie, says challenges abound in New Zealand with availability of accommodation, venues, and getting into the country.
“We’re very restricted with hotel inventory at the moment,” he says. “Many hotels were quarantine properties during Covid and have only recently come back online.”
Leslie also sees a challenge in flight scheduling. “This government took so long to reopen our borders that airlines basically bypassed New Zealand.”
Air New Zealand is only currently at 60% capacity to what it was pre-Covid, Leslie adds, and, like every other airline, continues to have staffing shortages.
"They’re putting on smaller planes because they don’t have the crew to man them. So we’ve got scheduling issues and capacity issues, which is also a challenge."
There are also staffing issues too in New Zealand hotels, notes Leslie, putting extra strain on the entire hospitality sector.
Owner of Tribe Travel & Events Leon Burman sees a big 2023 for New Zealand if there is venue availability.
“Selecting a destination can come down to whether that destination and the operators in it can service the clients.”
BEIA's Hopkins says the government is working on this, recently agreeing to temporarily exempt tourism and hospitality businesses from paying the median wage to recruit migrants on an Accredited Employer Work Visa, and instead, offering a lower wage threshold of NZ$25 per hour until April 2023.
“The decision to lower median wage levels for visa-holding staff is much-needed news for tourism and hospitality businesses struggling with the ongoing issue of finding staff and broadens the opportunity to recruit from offshore markets,” she says.