Despite this month’s Australian and New Zealand school holidays, businesses are reporting they are 20% down on the same time last year.
They say would-be visitors are either holding off until there is a decent snowfall, not coming at all because they cannot afford an increasingly expensive Queenstown ski holiday or they are coming and not spending the way they used to.
Queenstown also has to compete again with North Island skifields after a government bail-out.
Snow Rental co-owner Stefan Crawford said walk-ins this season were about 20% down, which he attributed to a lack of snow and the economic squeeze.
"We will get a lift if we get snow towards the end of this month or into August, which I think we will.
"But when money’s tight, you certainly understand people not coming.
"We worked out it was going to cost a family of four from Auckland, with two children under 16, about $10,000 for a week in Queenstown with their flights, lift passes and ski and snowboard rental."
The Cow restaurant co-owner Malcolm Price said last week he was down 10% compared with the same week last year, and down 20% the week before.
"There’s two things — the snow and the credit crunch.
"Also, we’re not getting any diners, really, after 8.30pm — we’d normally do another 50 people after 9pm.
"All the wealthy Kiwis, they’re in Europe or somewhere else, and the ones that have got a bit of money, they won’t come down till we get a big dump of snow.
"Bring on the southerlies from Antarctica, I say."
The Rees Hotel chief executive Mark Rose said July business was soft and August was looking no better.
"We just haven’t had any more snow — it’s a real concern.
"If we don’t get big snow in the next couple of weeks to drive some business through August, I tell you, the second half of August, for me, is looking pretty dire."
He thought the other problem was Queenstown was "becoming, for a family, an expensive exercise" — including the cost of dining out.
"We need to start looking at ourselves and say, are we starting to overprice ourselves?"
Economist Benje Patterson, also chairman of the Arrowtown Promotion and Business Association, said visitors were being cautious with their spending.
"While a big dump of snow might help lure a few more people over in the back end of the season, the reality is that won’t change the overarching reluctance from winter visitors to spend up large while they’re here."
Airbnb property management company Hello Queenstown co-owner Savannah Jackson said last season was big as post-Covid "everyone was sort of keen to travel".
This year, a combination of inflation, interest rates and "not the greatest ski season so far" had led to a softening in the market.
"I would say we’re probably 5-10% lower in occupancy than expected, and then rates are maybe 15% lower than previous years, so you combine those two, we’re maybe 15% down on revenue."
