As snow settled on skifields and Australian school holidays began, a pause in quarantine-free travel could not have come at a worse time, Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult said.
From the time New Zealand’s bubble with Australia was announced, Queenstown’s tourism sector knew there would be speed bumps along the way, Mr Boult said.
Now, with outbreaks in Australia in differing stages of containment and the health risk for New Zealand increasing, the pause was understandable.
But Mr Boult said it felt a bit like "we’re all dressed up and no place to go".
"It’s a prudent measure, but it’s immensely concerning."
He said he had spoken to a couple of hoteliers yesterday morning.
"One told me he had had an avalanche of cancellations."
"We just do not need this at this time, just when the town is starting to get back on its feet.
"It’s a tough outcome, but understandable."
Air New Zealand announced yesterday all passenger flights from Australia to New Zealand had been cancelled until 11.59pm tomorrow, as the Covid-19 Delta variant outbreak worsened across the Ditch.
The airline said a reduced number of passenger flights would continue to operate to Australia so that visitors from Australia could get home.
But the airline was seeing a large number of customers cancelling travel to Australia in the next few days.
Due to the reduced demand, it would be rerouting customers booked to travel from Queenstown, Christchurch or Wellington through Auckland for flights across the Tasman.
The cancellation of inbound flights to New Zealand from Australia would result in the postponement of Air New Zealand’s Auckland-Cairns and Auckland-Sunshine Coast services, which had been due to relaunch today and tomorrow respectively, a company statement said.
Hospitality New Zealand said operators began receiving cancellations within hours of the travel bubble pause.
Chief executive Julie White said the Government’s announcement had an immediate effect in Otago.
"Towns such as Queenstown and Wanaka had excellent bookings thanks to the Australian school holidays starting this weekend, but are reporting cancellations already and for some, these cancellations extend through to August," she said.
"This is not what the industry needs right now.
"Things were looking up, and with a big dump of snow expected this weekend, businesses were geared up for a busy few weeks.
"This is a kick in the guts for operators," she said.
— Additional reporting The New Zealand Herald
