With the economic situation in Queenstown unlikely to improve any time soon, the mayor is calling on the Government to support businesses in the region struggling with the impact of the lockdown.
Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult is doubtful Aucklanders will be the in resort in time for the October school holidays.
Speaking to Queenstown Chamber of Commerce chief executive Ruth Stokes during a webinar yesterday, Mr Boult was asked if he thought it was likely Aucklanders would return by October 2.
"It’s purely a guess — no I don’t," he said.
The economic conditions for the next few months were expected to be taxing.
"Thoughts at the present time are about assisting business to stay in business until Christmastime when we hopefully will see a significant increase in domestic tourism," Mr Boult said.
The webinar was run to update the Queenstown business community on the Covid-19 response and plans for recovery.
Mr Boult said the desire was to get skifields up and running "as soon as we can" under Level 2.
"It will be a South Island-only market," he said.
"Given the current circumstance, it’s better than nothing."
NZ Ski chief executive Paul Anderson said he agreed.
"In terms of the North Island ... if they’re going to be stuck in Level 3 for a while, they’re probably going to miss out on most of the rest of the season.
"Having said that, we will be operating at the Remarkables through to October 17 if the snow conditions allow us to, so there is a bit of time left and a bit of hope," Mr Anderson said.
He said he would expect a busy day anyway if the mountain were to open on September 8 as currently planned and would need "as many hands on deck as we can".
There were no plans to let any staff go this early on but rosters started thinning out about this time of year as seasonal staff contemplated their next moves.
The Regional Business Partners Network would administer the business advisory fund and the business advice implementation fund in September; Mr Boult said there would be announcements regarding those funds today.
Mr Boult also outlined Kickstart, a fund of about $30million distributed to the Queenstown Lakes District Council by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and administered by the network.
The fund enabled businesses to scale up for the return of visitors but was on hold at present, being revised given alert level changes.
Mr Boult hoped to speak to Tourism Minister Stuart Nash this week to see what further support could be provided, including for firms with ongoing fixed costs and no revenue.
"This Covid situation has been going on for 18 months.
"Initially, we didn’t get a lot of support from government for the tourism industry, however we’re ramping up the teams to get them to reconsider what they may provide in the future.
"I think personally the best thing government could do is to continue the wage subsidy beyond Level 2 to enable businesses just to survive a little longer," he said.
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Time Q'towns mayor took Q'town into the 'team of 5 million" and stopped wanting specific pity for themselves, while forsaking the rest of NZ. Q'town is not 'entitled'. The mayor is doing a great job at turning everyday Kiwi's against Queenstown.
As a QDLC resident I am sick of this rhetoric. They demanded that the border be opened so they could make money, it opened and we got COVID. Why aren’t they footing the bill.
Isn't a $10 million support package for a bungy operation enough then? Hey Queenstown, I used to like visiting you but I think there are places I'd rather go and spend my money these days.
Due to COVID tourism is over as we knew, it an will be for some time (years) Mayor Boult, reminds me of an old saying "sounds like a bus load of whingeing pom's have been dropped off". you have turned this skier off i will take my part of "It will be a South Island-only market," to the Canterbury ski fields im sure my South Island money will be Appreciated there