One of the key things that the tourism industry is going to have to grapple with as borders reopen is how to right-size capacity, given the uncertain speed with which tourism will recover. In an already tight labour market, it is going to be especially difficult making sure we have the workforce in place to serve visitors as they return, without poaching staff from other industries.
We shouldn’t underestimate the role that working holidaymakers can play in assisting us nimbly scale up in time for winter tourism and to assist non-tourism industries as well. Previous research I have done showed that labour supplied by the average working holidaymaker to a range of industries helped New Zealand generate the equivalent of $21,380 to GDP per working holidaymaker. As a point of comparison, I estimated that the average international visitor contributed just $1,760 to our GDP from spending in a touristic capacity. That’s a 12 to 1 ratio – just saying!
If you want to read more about some of the key challenges that will effect New Zealand’s tourism recovery, then take a read of John Anthony’s recent article that I contributed to. The article can be found here.