Asked how many jobs were at stake because of Covid-19, Queenstown Chamber of Commerce chief executive Anna Mickell yesterday said simply: "Lots".
Ms Mickell had just emerged from the first meeting of the "business response team" consisting of representatives of the Queenstown and Wanaka chambers of commerce and tourism promotion groups, as well as the Queenstown Lakes District Council.
With "pretty much" no international visitors arriving, forward planning for the ski season was "really difficult", she said.
"So businesses are going to be very cautious about who and how they employ, and in fact, it’s probably not even on their minds.
"They’re just deciding what they’re doing with their existing employees."
She was aware "crisis meetings" were being held this week and a lot of businesses were having to deal with human resources issues because "they’ll be having to make people redundant".
"That’s started."
Asked what sort of numbers were involved, Ms Mickell said it was too early to say "but it’s going to be lots".
"It’s a massive impact on Queenstown."
Ms Mickell said some businesses would "choose to hold their staff" and borrow to get them through.
"Others are not going to be in a position to do that."
She believed the situation would be particularly hard on event-based businesses "because they can look down the pipeline and see their events being cancelled".
The team was ensuring businesses had the right legal advice on employment issues.
Ms Mickell said the team was seeking clarification over the position of employees with short-term working holiday visas.
"So many of our employees here are on essential skills visas.
"As part of their visa conditions, they have to have 30 hours work a week ... so there’s lots of HR issues to consider."
The group was awaiting today’s announcement about what assistance would be available.
