Lions supporters show keen interest in living here

Thousands of smitten British and Irish Lions supporters are looking into making their New Zealand holiday permanent.

The Department of Labour has recorded more than 3000 hits from tourists on a website offering the rugby fans information on living and working in New Zealand.

Local authorities, employers and recruitment companies had also targeted the tourists, department marketing and communications director Richard Ninness said. "The number of visits to the website to date is an outstanding response, given these people are here on holiday. We hope that some of them will take us up on our offer and migrate here, but at the moment it's too early to tell."

Department figures show 29,000 tourists from Britain and Ireland arrived in New Zealand last month, more than twice the number recorded in June last year.

Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce chief executive Peter Townsend was "absolutely delighted" with the response from tourists.

The chamber, in a campaign targeting Lions fans, distributed 10,000 brochures around Christchurch hotels, rental car companies, bars and restaurants. The benefits of living in Canterbury were highlighted in a bid to attract some of the affluent visitors and fill labour gaps. The Department of Labour website was also included in the advertising.

' Christchurch recruitment company Coverstaff dealt with "a couple" of Lions fans during the tour, but director Scott Brittenden said there was not a lot of interest. He agreed that it was positive to see so many British and Irish fans interested in New Zealand, particularly because of the labour shortage here.

However, many of the tourists were from the upper-income brackets, not the tradespeople New Zealand desperately needed, he said.

- NZPA