Wages for hospitality staff in Queenstown will only increase if tourism as a whole prospers, industry leaders say.
The Government's announcement this month of a $158m boost for tourism over the next four years was welcomed by the $23.4 billion New Zealand tourism industry, which created 187,000 jobs (or one in 10), and was the lifeblood of Queenstown.
However, frontline hospitality staff who interact with the 1.89 million annual visitors to the Wakatipu were anecdotally paid about $14 an hour. The minimum wage is $13.75 per hour.
Hospitality New Zealand Central Otago committee member Chris Buckley, and Pub on Wharf general manager, said his bar paid more than the going rate to hire and retain the best staff. Experience was more important than qualifications and wages increased every six months.
But the only way staff would get paid more generally in Queenstown was if there were more tourists spending money in the resort.
Asked if the dividends from existing visitor spend were filtering down to staff, Mr Buckley said it happened in his pub.
''We're here for the long term ... so we make sure we give as much as we can back to our staff.''
Mr Buckley said there were 20% more bars than Queenstown needed and owners were not making as much money as they used to. Meanwhile, costs and staff benefits increased, such as making Waitangi Day and Anzac Day public holidays when they fell on Mondays.
New Zealand Chefs Association national president Anita Sarginson, of Wellington, said staff should be paid what they were worth. Wages were low, given the skill base needed and the investment in qualifications. Yet wages were the one overhead owners and managers could keep low, Miss Sarginson said.
''I know lots of young cooks have student debt, just like any other professional person. Places like Queenstown in particular, wages are even lower given the cost of living is extraordinarily high and I think that's why you see the high prevalency of staff churn.''
Miss Sarginson said a cook in training earned on average $14-$15 an hour, a commis chef $16-$18 and an executive chef about $65,000 a year. Some middle-management level chefs dropped out when it came to choosing between a labour of love and their net pay.
Increasing customer prices was the only way to increase wages.
''Put it out there to our customers - pay what it's worth,'' Miss Sarginson said.
''The mystery of restaurants is if they've done a great job you don't see the three hours of polishing cutlery, and the five hours of preparation before the dinner.''
Tourism Industry Association chief executive Martin Snedden said the stronger the visitor economy, the more jobs there would be and the better the employment conditions.
Mr Snedden questioned the assumption Queenstown tourism operators made a lot of money.
''For a lot of them, they're hanging on there for the last four or five years. They've been spending a lot of their own personal money, they take all the risk and a lot of them have mortgages tied in with their businesses,'' Mr Snedden said.
''The vast majority of tourism businesses only employ two to five people and a lot of it's seasonal. You'd be struggling to find too many tourism businesses that are raking in the dough and not passing on benefits to employees.''
Mr Snedden said the answer was to make sure the overall visitor economy was stronger so the market could create jobs and improve wages.
''I can understand why a worker on low hourly rates and uncertain hours would be concerned and why it acts as a disincentive to work in the tourism industry, so therefore it is an issue that needs to be resolved, but don't underestimate the challenges that lie above that.''
