The licensing trust operates 23 businesses in the hospitality industry in the city, including hotels, motels, restaurants, bars and retail liquor outlets.
Chief executive Chris Ramsay said yesterday the board had been holding discussions and working on a continuation plan in order to keep its businesses operating successfully while ensuring the health and safety of staff.
The situation of the hospitality industry in Queenstown highlighted the potential problem businesses in the city could face when the pandemic hit its peak, he said.
Businesses in Queenstown were needing to cut back hours and even close as large numbers of staff isolated due to close contact requirements.
"We hope we can stay open right through but, in the current climate, we can’t ignore as well the potential impact Covid-19 can have in our businesses and staff.
"We identified our core businesses and will manage our staff in a way to redeploy them to affected businesses — if necessary."
He said it would be a case-by-case situation but the intention was to try to keep "all the doors open" as much as possible, and if the board decided to close any site, it would be a temporary closure.
Mr Ramsay preferred to not name any specific core business, but said the decision to hibernate one of them would take into consideration a range of factors including geographic location, current demand and profits.
At present, the licensing trust employed about 600 staff in its businesses, and Mr Ramsay guaranteed there were no conversations among the board at this stage about laying off any staff.
The board had instead confirmed a Covid-19 remuneration policy in which any staff who contracted the virus or were identified as close contacts would have 100% of their wages paid while they were unable to perform their duties.
That time would not be taken as sick leave, he said.
"We are all in this together. I’m sure no-one wants to have Covid-19 and the health and safety of our team is our priority."
Mr Ramsay also highlighted revenue had been hugely affected since operating under the Government’s traffic light system — it was estimated that the revenue was down about 40% in most of its bars and restaurants.
Many function and accommodation bookings were cancelled as well, he said.
"There is a noticeable fear in the community ... [people are] avoiding restaurants and bars to be safe."
