There has been a ''year-on-year drop'' in the number of temporary work visas considered in Queenstown and the decline is attributed to the poor ski season in 2011 and staff shortages in the resort's small immigration office.
In the 2010 calendar year, the Queenstown immigration branch office processed 4202 temporary work visa applications and this number dropped to 3691 in 2011 and 3151 in 2012.
The numbers include visas which have been approved and declined.
Immigration NZ area manager Michael Carley said, while there had been a drop, it was not quite as significant as the figures suggested, since some applications were being processed in Dunedin because of staff shortages in Queenstown.
The Queenstown office was one of the country's smallest, Mr Carley said.
As can be expected in a ski resort, the quality of the ski season has an effect on the number of visa applications.
''The advice from the Queenstown branch is that 2010 numbers ... do reflect the fact that there was a lot of forward bookings still in Queenstown and so the demand for essential skill visas was higher.
''The next year ... wasn't such a good ski season and so the demand for essential skills work visas was lower,'' Mr Carley said.
''That's not uncommon in a lot of seasonal industries. It will depend on how good the season is, as to how many work visas we'd issue.''
It was important to remember that the Queenstown figures were only ''part of the picture'' and many visas, especially those for jobs such as ski instructors and rafting guides, were sought from overseas.
The Queenstown office often dealt with applications from people wanting to extend their visas, he said.
