Last week Southland MP Joseph Mooney said the region was experiencing a "50-year worker shortage", and, unlike in Australia and Canada, road-blocks were being put in the way of anyone trying to offer the high-quality visitor experience the Government wanted.
"On one hand, [they’re] telling us that we need to have a high-quality visitor experience and, on the other hand, they’re making it impossible for people to deliver it.
"I’ve talked to some hospitality people and the look in their eyes and their body language is pretty worrying - they’re under so much pressure."
In an attempt to alleviate some of that pressure, Hospitality New Zealand is working with the Ministry of Social Development and Go With Tourism on two recruitment "speed-networking" events in Wanaka and Queenstown this month.
Hospitality NZ regional manager Darelle Jenkins said the goal was to keep the winter workforce, whose contracts were coming to an end, in the region over summer.
In Arrowtown-based independent economist Benje Patterson’s latest labour market snapshot for Queenstown, comparing this June with June 2021, 78% of businesses were struggling to find skilled or specialist workers, and 56% were having difficulty finding unskilled workers.
Last June, those figures were 56% and 46%, respectively.
Ms Jenkins said a range of employers would be present at the recruitment nights in Wanaka and Queenstown - willing workers were asked to bring their CVs.
The events will be held at the Lake Wanaka Centre and QT Queenstown’s Bazaar on September 28. Both run from 6pm until 8pm.
