Until this June, New Zealand recruiters do not need to check if eligible employees to the country could meet the openings in the resort. This year’s summer season is ending up as very hectic and also very profitable in the history of the tourism of Queenstown. However, it has pressurized the operators to fill up the vacant positions.
This decision to ease the norms has been greeted in Queenstown by Penny Clark, the chair of the Industry of Tourism Association’s hotel sector. She went on to say that the good news involving immigration is that the pressure they were feeling in Queenstown was being understood, especially concerning finding good team. Nevertheless, their problems really have not lessened.
Queenstown will be visited by Immigration Minister, Michael Woodhouse and Minister of Tourism, Paula Bennett. They will come here to listen to the concerns in person. According to chief executive, Graeme Budd, this would be a crucial meeting as the issue would not get a solution because of exemption of temporary nature. Once the ministers will come here, they would be questioned if they saw this as a provisional solution. If so, they should now have discussions about permanent solutions.
The operators are happy with the temporary relaxation in laws concerning immigration while the unions are showing their concern. These changes are slated to bring down the wages for those working in the hospitality area. One of the chief reasons for workers to come to Queensland is dearth of proper accommodation.
Ann Lockhart, Queensland Chamber of Commerce, chief executive said that pressure of wages would not be a thing for concern as the market place would take care of any aberrations in the system. In a bid to have a strong and able staff, the employers were ready to pay the requisite wages. Till date, other parts of New Zealand have not implemented measures akin to Queensland, even though the tourism industry hub in Christchurch and Hawkes Bay have shown that alluring enough workers to fill in the vacancies is an arduous process.
