Announcing the company’s six-month results yesterday, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels New Zealand Ltd (MCK) managing director Stuart Harrison said the lack of action was hampering the ability to improve business.
"With other countries actively competing for world-class events and receiving government funding to do so, there is a real risk of New Zealand missing out and creating a disadvantage which will take some years to fix.
"Our view is that such funding would be a wise investment and help the tourism and accommodation industries ‘get back on track’ and secure their medium-term futures," he said.
Revenue for the six months to June 30 was up 42% from just over $60 million to $85.3m, while the company posted an after-tax loss of $10.17m, compared with profit of $8.38m for the corresponding period last year.
The company cited the effect of a one-off, non-cash deferred tax liability adjustment amounting to $25.76m which arose from a change in tax legislation that came into effect this year and related to the depreciation of buildings owned by MCK.
There was improving occupancy and profit in the hotels business, despite slowing demand for corporate travel and meetings.
The first half of the financial year was the first time in five years where the hotels had been able to operate without the impact of pandemic restrictions, weather-related issues or large staffing shortages.
The hotels business now had good staffing levels and more room capacity following completion of certain refurbishment works.
While some regions had seen a dampening in demand, others, such as Queenstown — where it operates two Copthorne hotels and a Millennium hotel — remained very strong.
Economic headwinds remained challenging.
Those trends of dampened demand were expected to continue into the third quarter but with a resurgence of activity from overseas visitors was expected in quarter four.
Mr Harrison said MCK’s team was focused on securing business across all market segments and in all regions for the rest of the year and into 2025.
"We have set ourselves stretch targets for both revenue and profit for this year and we are determined to achieve these."
Outside of the hotel operations, MCK’s majority-owned property development subsidiary CDL Investments New Zealand recorded a 32% increase on its before-tax profit.
