Waikato alert level increase will hurt local businesses, motel owner says

Already struggling Rotorua businesses will be starved of a much-needed school holiday cash injection as parts of the Waikato are in alert level 3, a motel owner says.

One person in Raglan and another in Hamilton east tested positive for the Delta strain of Covid-19 at the weekend.

Raglan, Te Kauwhata, Ngaruawāhia, Hamilton city and Huntly were moved to alert level 3 at 11.59pm on Sunday.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern explained the main reason those locations moved to level 3 was due to their low vaccination levels.

Rotorua Moteliers Association chairman and Arista of Rotorua motel owner Mike Gallagher said the lockdowns would impact local businesses.

"Many [people] were relying on that little school holidays cash injection to crawl through to Christmas and make some good dollars," he said.

"With Hamilton and the north Waikato locked down, it's made things worse. It's going to be a very challenging next three or four months."

Rotorua Moteliers Association chairman Mike Gallagher Photo / Andrew Warner

Hospitality NZ Rotorua president Reg Hennessy said the industry was stuck in limbo.

"Hospitality, restaurants and small business everywhere is getting very close to being on its knees. This is just another big nail in the coffin," he said.

"A lot of guys are at the stage of no return, particularly in Auckland but that will have a domino effect.

"People who have been in the industry for a long time are breaking down in meetings and talking about the state of their health. It's not good out there."

Rotorua Treewalk director Bruce Thomasen has long spoken about the importance of reaping as much business as possible during the school holidays.

In August, after the discovery of the Auckland outbreak, Thomasen said he hoped the country would be at alert level 1 by the start of this week.

This week, he said, with Auckland still at level 3, the school holidays were always going to be tough for local businesses.

"The holidays were always going to be about half of what they should have been [with Auckland at level 3]," Thomasen said.

"The Waikato probably would be 10 to 15 per cent of the volume, maybe even up to 20 per cent over the holidays. The Waikato lockdowns will absolutely have an impact.

"The lockdown strategy appears to not be bulletproof. The strategy must now be vaccinating, and vaccinate as fast as you can."

Rotorua Treewalk director Bruce Thomasen. Photo / Mike Scott

Thomasen said it was key that health officials investigated all the hurdles that might stop a person from getting vaccinated and find solutions.

"A hurdle [could be] misinformation, so giving them the right information. Or if they are about getting to the site, get vaccination buses to them or free taxis."

Yesterday it was revealed there were 29 new community cases — one of whom was one of the Waikato pair and the remaining 28 were all from Auckland.

Three household contacts of the Raglan case have since tested positive but will only be officially recorded in today's case numbers.

Following yesterday's Cabinet meeting, Ardern said alert level 2 would remain for the rest of the country despite the emergence of the Waikato cases.

However, some settings would be eased with the 100-person capacity for hospitality venues abolished. Customers would still need to be seated and distanced.

Elsewhere, Rotorua Lakes Council temporarily closed on Monday to undergo a deep clean after a staff member was deemed to be a "loose" Covid-19 contact.

The risk was deemed to be very low but chief executive Geoff Williams said they were acting with an "abundance of caution" by closing down.

The council was expected to reopen today. Port of Tauranga spokeswoman Rochelle Lockley said there would be no impact on their operations because it was an essential service.