Economy

Queenstown Lakes District Council is seeking tenders for the implementation of its District Economic Diversification Plan.

Business confidence has dipped due to the pain of interest rates, finding skilled staff, and rising costs.

The constrained labour market and lack of overseas workers are the biggest barrier to business, the Quarterly Canterbury Business Survey

Rising costs are prompting price revisions with little room to manoeuvre in a recovering market for ITOs and suppliers.

The Ticker looks at how tourism businesses are coping with rising costs and whether they can increase prices in a recovering market.

Despite tourism spend up 16% the city’s events, hospitality and retail sectors still face challenges.

Tourism-dependent Otago has suffered from Auckland’s lockdown.

Credit defaults for businesses overall fell 5% in November compared to last month as the economy recovers heading into summer, according to Centrix.

The West Coast has made a “stunning” return to the top of ASB’s latest measure of regional economic performance. 

ASB Bank expects the economy to rebound 8% in Q4 if the elimination of Covid-19 in Auckland is successful.

Queenstown Lakes has launched a campaign to attract business leaders, employers, and talent to the district to help diversify its economy from tourism.

The divide between the north and south has widened due in part to the latter’s reliance on tourism, says the bank.

A recent BusinessNZ Planning Forecast shows gross domestic product figures “holding up well, [but] constraints to growth are rising,” says chief executive Kirk Hope.

Bank now predics a recovery in monthly international visitor arrivals around 2024.

But tourism in regions like Hawke’s Bay and Northland has fared better, says the bank.

The $450m hole that Covid-19 has punched in Auckland Council’s finances this year could grow by a further $540m by 2024, says Auckland Council.

However, tourism could start recovering from September next year with safe travel corridors possibly open.  

Tourism is the most visible casualty from Covid-19 with a “dramatically reduced” likelihood of large scale reopening of New Zealand’s borders.

Westpac and NZIER analyse the cost of lockdowns and the impact on hard-hit tourism.

Despite an improvement in business confidence, an inconvenient truth remains – there’s a very large economic hole where tourism used to be.

New Zealand’s reliance on international tourism will see it suffer more than its major trading partners as the fight against Covid-19 drags on, says ASB.

The impact of Covid-19 on the tourism sector resulted in sharp drops in confidence across most regions that relied heavily on international visitors.

Otago’s high exposure to tourism means it is facing the “biggest economic struggle” of the post-lockdown recession.

It was the largest quarterly fall since the 2.4% decline in the March 1991 quarter.

Consumer confidence is the lowest it has been since 2009, according to the latest Westpac McDermott-Miller Consumer Confidence Index.

Tourism and construction dependent regions are most at risk, say the economists.

The Covid-19 crisis may not have as severe an impact on the Bay of Plenty as other parts of New Zealand, says the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

Former Wayfare boss, Richard Lauder, has called for the scrapping of alert levels arguing they were constructed for an upward path into lockdown, not for a move out of lockdown and a restoration of economic activity.

The report’s findings have prompted renewed calls from industry for a loosening of travel restrictions.

Unemployment could range between 13% – 26% as New Zealand tries to cope with the impact of Covid-19.

Prepare for a “tumultuous” year ahead with the winners being “those that are set up to thrive in a challenging environment”, says ASB.

Business confidence plunged over the second half of March as the Covid-19 outbreak become a global pandemic, says ANZ.

Tourism is in for a long haul back to pre-pandemic levels with the outbreak costing around 200,000 jobs, according to the country’s banks.

New Zealand could suffer one of the worst contractions in economic activity due to the Covid-19 lockdown, according to a new report.

The Reserve Bank has lowered Official Cash Rate is 0.25% from 1%, and it will remain at this level for at least the next 12 months.

Business confidence fell in March to levels not seen since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, according to the latest ANZ Business Outlook report. 

Tourism is now the West Coast’s biggest earner, according to economic consultants Infometrics.

Rising prices for both international and domestic airfares were one of the main drivers behind a 0.5% increase to the consumer price index (CPI) in the December quarter, according to Stats NZ.

Many of the country’s tourist hotspots have seen weak growth in visitor spending, says the bank.

The New Zealand economy is experiencing a period of slower, but still solid, economic growth, according to Treasury’s 2019 half year economic and fiscal update.

The performance of tourism is “a concern for the region”, says Westpac.

Strong growth in spending has outstripped the increase in visitor arrivals.

The potential of the sector in five of the country’s regions is highlighted in a new report.

The sector is slowing but there are some bright spots, says the bank in its latest regional roundup.

The world’s travel and tourism sector grew by 3.9% last year, second only to manufacturing, says a new report.

The bank’s chief economist expects only “muted growth” in the sector in the years ahead.