Covid-19 coronavirus Delta outbreak: Tauranga suffers as Auckland lockdown extended

Hospitality NZ accommodation sector Bay of Plenty chairman and Tauranga's 850 Cameron Motel owner Tony Bullot. Photo / George Novak

For a Tauranga tourism business that has had one booking in the past two weeks, news Auckland will stay in lockdown for another week is tough to hear.

With no cruise customers, Aucklanders have become the biggest market for V8 Trike Tours, owned by Kathryn and Nigel Busbridge.

V8 Trike Tours owner Nigel Busbridge in 2017. Photo / File

But many of their bookings, including corporate bookings, had been cancelled or postponed until March.

People seemed "down and out" at the moment and not many were keen to book, Kathryn said.

She said it had been hard going with Auckland in lockdown, but they would just have to wait it out.

"We both had to go out and find other work [after the last lockdown]," she said.

Nigel drove a school bus and she worked at a school in the mornings, with trike tour bookings open from 10am to 2pm. They were also trying new promotional avenues.

The business was one of the many in Tauranga affected by Auckland's extended lockdown.

Today, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Auckland will remain in Covid-19 alert level 4 until at least 11.59pm next Tuesday. Cabinet made an in-principle decision to move to level 3 then. The rest of New Zealand remains in level 2.The decisions will be reviewed on Monday.

Community cases have been rising in Auckland over the last few days, with 33 announced today.

Ardern said Auckland's lockdown was restricting the spread of the virus and remained the "best option" to bring the outbreak under control.

It was not possible, however, to "hermetically seal" the region off and there remained a risk to the rest of New Zealand.

"If Covid were to travel over the Auckland border the impact would be far greater in a level 1 environment," Ardern said.

Hospitality NZ accommodation sector Bay of Plenty chairman and 850 Cameron Motel owner Tony Bullot said accommodation and hospitality were being hit hard.

Hospitality NZ accommodation sector Bay of Plenty chairman and 850 Cameron Road Motel owner Tony Bullot. Photo / George Novak

Level 2 was "much more subdued" than usual with no events on and a major reduction in corporate bookings, most of which were from Auckland.

September would have been a busy month for bookings with the AIMS Games, which has been cancelled, and two hockey nationals - one postponed and one cancelled.

"The best thing to do right now is get Covid out of the community in Auckland."

Classic Group director Peter Cooney said materials and supply were the biggest issues for the building and construction sectors.

Classic Builders director Peter Cooney. Photo / File

He said not having the core industries up and running in Auckland would have "serious consequences" for the rest of the country and would escalate already rising costs and prices.

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Matt Cowley said Auckland's continued lockdown caused "extensive issues" for Tauranga's businesses, especially the manufacturing and construction sectors.

He said people were risk-averse to travelling within level 2 areas in case they got caught in another lockdown, which impacted local tourism.

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Matt Cowley. Photo / File

This was particularly true for business travellers, he said.

"It is important to get as many people vaccinated as possible so we reduce the risk of Government using hard lockdowns in the future."

Ardern said the decision triggered another fortnight of the wage subsidy. Any business that had lost revenue due to any part of NZ being in level 3 or 4 could apply, even if the business was operating in level 2.