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Hospitality, tourism and events companies are recovering from the sudden rise in alert levels and economic waves are sweeping across the country.
Although Auckland will bear the brunt of its shift to alert level 3, the shock is spreading well beyond its limits as residents cancel their travel plans.
Several conferences, including one on crisis preparedness, have been postponed, as has a major trade fair that was due to open in Auckland on Monday morning and about 6,000 people are expected to attend.
The Art Deco Festival in Napier also canceled opening day events on Wednesday, and Queenstown tour operators are receiving cancellations from Auckland residents unable to travel.
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Abigail Dougherty / Stuff
Auckland is back at alert level 3 lockdown with workers urged to work from home, once again hitting hospitality in the CBD.
Restaurant Association CEO Marisa Bidois said the announcement of a return to Levels 2 and 3 was a major blow to an industry already struggling to recover from the impact of border closures, and that the change in alert levels was “incredibly difficult” to handle.
“Many companies will have stocked up on food for the next few days and will now incur waste costs in addition to significantly reduced revenue.”
“However, our industry would prefer a short period of time at level 3 than these extended shutdown periods that we are seeing in other parts of the world. We are hopeful that we will return to a level where we are fully open by next weekend. “
The EMEX trade show at the Auckland Show Grounds, where 190 exhibitors from across the country had set up booths, is a victim of the shift in alert level.
XPO Exhibitions CEO Brent Spillane said it was the second time that the 40th engineering, machinery and electronics fair had been postponed as a result of Covid-19, and technicians had worked late into the night shutting down equipment equipment. high tech on display.
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The shift to alert levels 2 and 3 is causing the postponement of conferences and events across the country. (File photo)
“Some of them are 40 tons or more, and we have special cranes to insert these machines, then they are calibrated and ready for opening.”
Under Alert Level 2, event venues can have up to 100 people within any defined space, as long as they can maintain a physical distance and remain 1 meter away, but even if venues can meet those standards, the lack of delegates from Auckland is a problem.
Business Events Industry Aotearoa executive director Lisa Hopkins said a conference in Auckland for 500 people scheduled for Tuesday had been postponed, as had a smaller event in the capital on Thursday.
“There were 200 going to Wellington, but they had a considerable number going from Auckland.”
Hopkins said no one questioned the need for the closure, but the fallout went well beyond the conference venues to include its vendors, transportation and other hospitality establishments that would have benefited from guests eating out.
“It is the hit effect that we are seeing. They are revenue for Air New Zealand, they are taxis, it goes on and on. “
MONIQUE FORD / Things
Wellington hotel company owner Paul Retimanu is among those struggling to adjust to the sudden change in alert levels.
Hospitality New Zealand Wellington Branch President Paul Retimanu said the impact on their locations has been immediate and foot traffic is expected to drop below level 2 in the next three days.
He is managing director of Manaaki Management, which includes the Wharewaka Performance Center on Wellington’s waterfront, and said things had gone quite well with a number of events in town, but Sunday night’s announcement changed everything .
“We had a pretty good week, occupancy-wise, but as of 7:20 p.m. last night, 50 percent had been postponed or canceled.”
Retimanu said that most of the bookings were either canceled entirely or postponed indefinitely, due to uncertainty about what might happen next, leading to significant food and beverage losses, he said.
“The taps just shut off,” he said, and hospitality companies, especially in Auckland, needed support from the government.
“At the moment it is retroactive, they tell us that the wage subsidies will come after seven days, but who will cover it for the next seven days?”
Hospitality NZ Executive Director Julie White said that two hours after the Prime Minister’s announcement, members had reported a flood of cancellations and that the impact of the current shift in alert levels was being felt across the country.
ROSA WOODS / Things
Cafes and restaurants face significant losses from food waste, as customers stay home and domestic travel is reduced.
“What I think the Prime Minister may have forgotten, with the revival package, is that we have some hotels that were planning to have 250 guests at a conference for two days.
“So he not only has the complications of closing deals, he also has the shares that he was going to use.”
White said he understood and supported the response to the health crisis, but felt it was disproportionate and that the needs of the hospitality industry were not taken seriously, he said.
“As we continue to go in and out of the confinement, it is really our sector that is affected the most,” he said.
“People have not only canceled the reservations for the next three days, they have canceled the reservations for the next two weeks while they wait and see what happens.”
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Queenstown had been delighting in the return of events like this Gibbston Valley Winery concert, but Auckland’s return to alert level 3 has already seen Aucklandites cancel trips to the south.
Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Jim Boult said the level change was another bad news for the tourist destination, and Auckland residents were already scrapping plans for trips south.
“It makes an already bad situation even worse. It is the right thing for the government to do, but we are paying the price down here.
Queentown conference and event organizer Rob Stewart-McDonald is on edge, waiting to see if Auckland’s alert level 3 extends beyond Wednesday because most of his clients are from the Auckland region.
His company HQNZ has a 50-person event scheduled for Friday, with three more the following week, and between them they would bring 250 people to Queenstown at a time when all customers counted.
“About 70 percent of the money that comes in our door is spent at other Queenstown businesses.
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Queenstown tour operators may find they have more empty seats as Auckland locals are forced to stay home.
“February was going to be our most important month for the first six months of the year and the company had seven months of no revenue last year.”
Stewart-McDonald said conference and event attendees were frequently involved in tourism activities, so the impact of losing them was well outside the hospitality sector, where some operators were already switching to open three nights a week.
Westland Mayor Bruce Smith said the west coast would also be affected.
“Auckland is our second largest market, but the reality is that there is no other option. The faster we react, the faster we get out the other end. “
Fox Glacier Guiding CEO Rob Jewell said it was a bad time for the change in level to coincide with a good weather forecast on the West Coast, and he expected fewer tourists to show up as a result of the Auckland closure.
