The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) undersupply list for the Queenstown Lakes area has been updated to include a range of hospitality and tourism roles hard to fill due to a lack of New Zealanders. The change allows employers to support work visa applications without needing a Skills Match Report (SMR).

Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Jim Boult said he was “delighted” by the changes, which he had advocated for along with the Chamber of Commerce and Council staff.

“Our district has relied heavily on workers from overseas given the scale of the visitor economy here, and I couldn’t see any other way of helping these businesses adequately staff themselves,” he said. 

The change, which throws a lifeline to local businesses by allowing them to sponsor waiters, housekeepers, supervisors and chefs, was “one less major thing for them to worry about when simply staying afloat until international visitors return is a challenge.”

But Lake Wānaka Tourism (LWT) acting general manager Tim Barke said that, whilst the government changes were a “step in the right direction,”  they were “not going to solve everybody’s problems,” or avert what has the potential to be a labour shortage crisis as summer approaches. 

Barke said it was “heartbreaking” to see the “financial hell” local businesses were going through as they struggled to capitalise on the rushes typical of domestic tourism - mostly over holidays and long weekends - because they lacked staff. One hotelier had reported having to to shut down bookings at half of their hotels over Christmas because they were under-resourced. 

Barke said that while it remained impossible for new people to enter the country, it was vital the government offered “as much flexibility as possible” to those already here, including supporting them with training to take on roles other than those specified by their current visas. 

“We had a number of ski instructors without work who were keen to train as canyoning guides for the summer, but their visas wouldn’t allow it,” he recalled. 

Wānaka Community Board member and local business owner Chris Hadfield agreed that the changes were not enough to fill vacant roles, especially when it was unclear how long a domestic-only summer would remain busy and therefore how long extra staff would be needed.

To sponsor a migrant, businesses still had to commit to providing them with at least 30 hours per week, as well as demonstrate that the role had been sufficiently advertised to New Zealanders and that the applicant had the correct experience or qualifications for the role - which, for positions like barista, where training could be provided, was not always necessary. 

His “extreme view” was that visas be opened up more widely to allow unemployed migrants in New Zealand to fill vacant roles.

Barke said that the government was taking suggestions and continuing to look at ways they could help the tourism industry in the area.

“The more we can encourage that, the more likely we are to come out of this with the tourism industry still intact,” he said. 

Read edition 1004 of the Wānaka Sun here.