Australians are back and welcoming Queenstown business owners despite the lack of staff.
The winter began with great success, combining school holidays, direct cross-Tasman flights to Queenstown, and the biggest early-season snow scoop in decades.
And Australians are excited.
Olga Ilyichova is from Melbourne with her husband and two little sons and has been skiing for the past four days.
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“This was our first holiday after Covid and we were very excited about the snow,” she said.
Byron Chadburn is in Queenstown for the ski season with about 12 friends.
Debbie Jamison / Staff
Denis Kochkin and Olga Ilyichova traveled from Melbourne to Queenstown for a ski vacation with their sons Peter (7 years old) and Theo (2 years old).
They stayed at the hostel, got a job of hospitality and loved snow and nightlife.
“It’s a lot of fun. It’s been a very good season so far,” he said.
Piper Mackie spent five days on a Gold Coast family and enjoyed skiing and jet boating on the Skyline Luge and Ernthrow.
“It’s just a nice place and it’s so beautiful. It’s great,” she said.
Many Australians are enthusiastic about traveling, she said, and it’s cheaper and faster to go to Queenstown than to Perth.
Air New Zealand flights from Sydney to Queenstown are booked next week.
The days between Melbourne and Queenstown and between Brisbane and Queenstown are also full of reservations.
Debbie Jamison / Staff
Imogen Reese, Piper McKee, and her brother Jed McKee traveled from the Gold Coast to Queenstown for a five-day family trip.
According to Qantas, demand for 20 Queenstown flights per week was strong during the ski season, adding more capacity than pre-Covid levels since July.
Australian school holidays will take place from June 25th to July 10th in Victoria and Queensland, and a week later in New South Wales.
School holidays in New Zealand overlap with New South Wales for another week. In other words, a four-week family visits Queenstown.
A spokesperson for Queenstown Airport said that during the four-week school vacation, approximately 188,000 passengers are expected to pass through the airport, slightly less than the 202,000 in the same period in 2019.
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Qantas has added flights from Australia to Queenstown to meet winter demand.
New Zealand Chief Ski Officer Paul Anderson said snow school bookings have shown high numbers over the coming weeks at Coronet Peak and The Remarkables.
Australians accounted for about 10% of Matariki’s weekend Coronet Peak and The Remarkables visitors, but this week it has risen to 30%.
Despite being crossed the Tasman border at the same time last year, he said the number of New Zealanders and Australians on the slopes this week was about 30% higher than last year.
He said the large early snow dumps had a huge impact.
“Covering Coronet Peak early in the season made people crazy.”
Supply / staff
Coronet Peak opened its first chairlift of the season with about 120 cm of fresh snow.
It also means that the number of early seasons was higher than the bumper seasons before Covid in 2018 and 2019.
Laura Hedley, general manager of Cardrona and Treble Cone’s experience, also saw a steady increase in visitor numbers in Australia.
“They are excited to be here,” she said.
Hotels in Queenstown reported bumper reservations during July, with many caps at 80% due to staff shortages.
Several restaurants and bars in Queenstown and Wanaka Due to a shortage of staff, we alienated customers over the weekend of Matariki.
Greg Pinner, chef and former vice president of the New Zealand Chef Association, said he was lining up outside Queenstown’s popular restaurant White and Wong’s on Friday and saw customers leave due to waiting times.
Debbie Jamison / Staff
The Fergberger procession hasn’t returned to pre-Covid levels in central Queenstown, but the restaurant gets busier with Australian visitors this week.
Bronparsons, owner of Wanaka’s Federal Diner, Hudog, and Fedari eateries, alienated customers and closed the door to give staff a break.
“It’s a little stressful for existing staff. I know it’s going to be a busy time and I’m wondering how to deal with it.
“I have to make sure they don’t burn out.”
Ilyichova noticed that there were signs of many staff vacancies in Queenstown and said the children were disappointed when the Cookie Time Cafe closed when they visited.
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New Zealand’s hospitality industry is fighting a labor shortage exacerbated by border closures and the turnover of many migrant workers. (Video first released in July 2021)
She said their hotel provided room service every four days instead of every day due to lack.
Mayor Jim Vault of Queenstown-Lakes said everyone was aware of the staff’s problems and he advocated taking more migrant workers to the country.
“There’s nothing we can do about it in the short term, but we apologize for having to wait a little longer at restaurants and bars.”
But it was great to see Australian visitors come back, he said.
“The general feeling around the town is that people are really excited to see the visitors come back. The til rang and the people smiled again.”