The usually bustling tourist mecca resembled a ghost town after the Government put the country into a Level 4 lockdown. Photo / George Heard, File
The usually bustling tourist mecca resembled a ghost town after the Government put the country into a Level 4 lockdown. Photo / George Heard, File
Queenstown and Wanaka businesses need the return of the wage subsidy and the introduction of rent support if they are going to survive the wave of Covid-19 cases swamping the Lakes district, its mayor, Jim Boult, says.
Mr Boult put his argument to Tourism Minister Stuart Nash.
"He listened and nodded, but at the end of the day it's a caucus decision and I suspect that the finance minister will play a major part in it, but I think he is very aware of the crisis situation that we are facing."
Of the 30 new Covid-19 cases reported in the southern region yesterday, 22 were in Queenstown Lakes.
There are now 450 close contacts isolating throughout Otago and Southland, 332 of them in Queenstown Lakes.
Another 12 locations of interest in Queenstown and Wanaka were posted yesterday, 10 of them hospitality or tourism locations.
Tourism Minister Stuart Nash. Photo / Mark Mitchell, File
On Monday, Queenstown Chamber of Commerce chief executive Ruth Stokes predicted Queenstown would be closed for business by Friday due to the number of businesses confirmed as locations of interest and the number of people being forced to isolate.
Mr Boult did not think his town would close, but did say Ms Stokes' fears were well-founded.
"I have a great deal of sympathy for businesses, particularly hospitality businesses, who find themselves in a really precarious position ...
"You have got to understand that this comes on the back of two years of absolute pain for these businesses, which have been living on crumbs," he said.
Queenstown Chamber of Commerce chief executive Ruth Stokes. Photo / Supplied, via Otago Daily Times
The wage subsidy was urgently needed by Queenstown businesses so they could retain staff. Mr Boult raised his concerns with Mr Nash at a meeting two weeks ago.
Mr Boult also proposed a rent subsidy similar to one introduced in the resort town of Aspen, Colorado, at the height of the United States' Covid-19 outbreak.
"The landlord reduced the rent by a third, the tenant paid a third, and the government topped up the other third, and something like that would be well worth consideration."
Mr Boult also asked Mr Nash to consider introducing long-term "soft loans" to stricken businesses which could be repaid following all other creditors when trading conditions returned to pre-Covid levels.
"There were similar schemes in the past but then you were talking something like $10,000 and that's not going to keep a major hospitality business afloat for very long, so it's got to be realistic."
Mr Nash could not be contacted for comment yesterday.
Ms Stokes said yesterday reaction to her comments had been overwhelmingly positive, and people had told her they were grateful someone had spoken out about how hard the new outbreak had been for Queenstown businesses.
Ms Stokes echoed Mr Boult's call for the return of the wage subsidy for businesses and further support measures for struggling businesses.
"The Government need to acknowledge that we are in a different phase of the pandemic now and we need to manage things differently, and we need some financial support.
"This is no longer Covid resurgence, this is business disruption."
As well as the cases reported in Queenstown Lakes yesterday, four cases were reported in Gore and two apiece in Invercargill and Dunedin.
Yesterday's case numbers did not match up with figures released by the Southern District Health Board yesterday.
Going by yesterday's figures there should be 81 cases of Covid-19 in the South, but the board instead said there were 72.
"Sharing our daily case numbers is important to us, but it is also a new and complex process," a spokeswoman said.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson. Photo / Mark Mitchell, File
"The time of the day of reporting, the database used and the recovery of cases can all impact our daily numbers. We are currently working through our systems to ensure that we report from consistent data sets."
A classroom of pupils and several staff at Gore Main School are in isolation after a pupil tested positive for Covid-19 at the weekend, and Gore Preschool has closed as a precaution after a visitor tested positive.
Primary health organisation WellSouth yesterday said Covid testing numbers had more than doubled since Saturday, when 904 people got tested.
The following day 1508 people were tested and on Monday that jumped to 2307.
Nationally, 744 community cases of Covid-19 were reported yesterday.
