13k jobs to go as operators hibernate – survey

24th April 2020 By Staff Reporter | news@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker

Ngāi Tahu Tourism’s Shotover Jet business has closed down temporarily. Image: TT

A third of operators are placing their business in hibernation with almost two-thirds reducing staff numbers, according to provisional figures from an industry survey.

Tourism Industry Aotearoa’s survey of its members received 547 responses and showed 32% would hibernate because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Of the respondents – who in total employed 27,546 fulltime staff – 65%, or 355 operators, said they were reducing staff. The number of job losses because of the pandemic totalled 13,213. If the operators stopped trading, 6116 fulltime jobs would go.

However, two-thirds of operators said they were maintaining contact with their former staff with a view to re-employing them or pointing them towards other opportunities in the future.

The results come a day after one of the country’s largest operators, Ngāi Tahu Tourism, said it was shutting its doors for the foreseeable future with the potential loss of up to 300 jobs. Auckland Airport also said yesterday that it had begun the “difficult” process of reducing permanent staff numbers.

TIA’s survey also covered mitigation actions, the government support being used, and what type of further assistance was needed.

Of the mitigating actions being taken, 85% said they were reducing other costs and 82% were using some form of government support.

Just over half of respondents, 51%, highlighted the ability to pay creditors and cashflow commitments as a matter impacting their business, with 50% concerned about non-payment or delayed payment by debtors.

Around 508 operators, 93% of respondents, were using the government wage subsidy. Almost a third of respondents, 31%, were using tax relief measures.

Of the government support needed, 77% wanted the wage subsidy extended beyond the current 12 weeks, 49% wanted deferred tax arrangements, 47% wanted support for fixed business costs like rents and leases, and 46% wanted a freeze on local government rate increases.

On recovery intentions, 81% of respondents said they would gradually scale up their operation to a level aligned to returning demand, and 30% said they would restart with a different business model and reinvented offer.

TIA said the 547 survey respondents equated to about a third of its 1700 member businesses. The survey closed at 10am today and more detailed results would become available after further analysis.

The provisional results can be seen here.