Coronavirus: Hundreds of tourism jobs lost and fears more at risk

Monday, 17 February 2020

The tourism industry is bracing for significant losses after losing a major chunk of its Chinese market to coronavirus travel restrictions

New Zealand border closures to halt the spread of the coronavirus have already led to hundreds of tourism job losses and more are feared.

Bus drivers, guides and small tour operators catering for Chinese travellers are among the economic casualties as a tide of cancellations sweeps through the sector.

Travel restrictions to prevent coronavirus reduced direct flights from China to New Zealand and that has translated into job losses for tour guides and bus drivers.

New Zealand Chinese Travel and Tourism chair Simon Cheung estimated 300 tour bus drivers were temporarily jobless and said many had turned to Uber driving to make a living.

Christchurch driver guide Jason Li delivered his last tour group to the airport on Wednesday and is now job hunting to support his wife and two-year-old son.

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'I can hang on for a month, but I don't know where I will get the money from.

Li is an independent contractor and said there were many like him. 'We have to keep waiting until the tourists come back.'

Businesses go all out at Lunar New Year to make Chinese tourists feel welcome, but this year they have been kept away by the outbreak of coronavirus.

Despite the uncertainty, he supports the border closure.

'It's to keep us safe here, if we worry about income and tourism and we get the virus in New Zealand, that would be a horrible thing.

'The Government will pay more and more people will lose their jobs,' said Li.

For the year ended March 2019 just over 14 per cent of the work force was directly or indirectly employed in tourism.

The owners of Merrilands Takeaway in New Plymouth shut their doors because they had to go into isolation after returning home from a trip to China

The current situation is looking so dire the industry has asked the Government to consider wage subsidies to save permanent jobs put at risk by the sudden drop in visitors from China, our second largest tourist market.

Almost 40 inbound tour operators have 'approved destination status' (ADS) allowing them to bring in group tours from China and there are about 500 ADS approved tour guides, of which about 40 per cent are active throughout the year.

Tourism New Zealand said ADS operators had reported 18,271 cancellations for January and February.

Last week a survey of 200 Tourism Export Council members found inbound tour operators and attractions focussing on the China market had lost from 50 to 100 per cent of February bookings. The value of cancellations ranged from $45,000 to $3 million.

Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) chief executive Chris Roberts said it was hard to quantify the impact of coronavirus on employment and things were compounded by storm damage cutting access to Milford Sound.

'We believe hundreds of short term or temporary jobs are being lost or not being filled. Casual jobs are generally the first to go.'

In recent years there had been a big increase in the number of small non-ADS tour owner operators - typically husband and wife teams - taking independent Chinese travellers around the country, and he said some may end up shutting down permanently.

Auckland employment advocate May Moncur's selfie on a flight from Beijing to Hong Kong on February 4 down illustrates the dramatic reduction in Chinese travel.

'Without any customers, their business model doesn't really work.'

Roberts said they had not heard of any permanent employees being laid off and to avoid that happening TIA had raised the possibility of a short term wage subsidy.

There was a precedent in the form of the 80 per cent wage subsidy made available to Kaikōura businesses to help retain staff during the prolonged closure of State Highway 1 after the 2016 earthquakes, but this time other sectors were affected.

'The economic implications [of coronavirus] are much wider than many people anticipated, so we accept than any assistance in retaining the work force is a bigger issue than just tourism,' Roberts said.

The Ministry of Business, Immigration and Employment (MBIE) is advising ministers on the economic impact of the virus, including how best to support the tourism sector, but it would not be drawn on specifics.

The hospitality industry has already suggested delaying the April 1 rise in the minimum wage to cushion cafes, restaurants, and accommodation providers struggling as a result of the sudden drop in Chinese visitors, but Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway ruled that out.

Andrew Yang will reopen his Wairau Valley Chinese restaurant on Wednesday following a three week closure to protect customers.

About 50,000 visitors from China were expected here over Chinese New Year and ripples from the border closure are rapidly spreading.

Auckland employment advocate May Moncur said the Auckland Chinese community was feeling the pinch and she had already been contacted by several people with virus-related employment issues.

'In one case an employee, a Chinese chef, was made redundant without notice and a proper process.

'The other case is from the education/training sector with the worker being told not to come back to work.'

Moncur said that although New Zealand had not yet had a case of the virus, fear of infection was keeping people at home, so restaurants that relied on walk-in trade were also suffering.

'Chinese people in Auckland are avoiding going out.'

Thousands of Chinese students had also been unable to enter the country to study.

'They're stranded in China and they would be a big market for a lot of takeaways and home deliveries.'

Andrew Yang closed his Chu Long Ji Chinese Restaurant in Auckland's Wairau Valley for three weeks to ensure Chinese customers who might have been exposed to coronavirus did not infect others and he estimates that decision has cost him about $80,000 in lost turnover.

Yang is also a member of the China Chamber of Commerce in New Zealand which has postponed its annual charity gala to raise money for Cure Kids because so many of the 650 guests were self isolating after recent visits to China and out of concern about the virus.