The pause in the travel bubble with Australia is another blow for accommodation providers who hoped for a strong winter season after the challenges of 2020.

Hospitality New Zealand chief executive Julie White said cancellations began just hours after the pause was announced.

“Towns such as Queenstown and Wanaka had excellent bookings thanks to the Australian school holidays starting this weekend, but are reporting cancellations...and for some, these cancellations extend through to August,” she said. 

The trans-Tasman bubble pause went into effect on June 26 and it has since been extended to Sunday (July 4) for Victoria, South Australia, ACT and Tasmania; other states including Western Australia, NSW, Northern Territory and Queensland remain paused until at least July 5.

Julie said the effect was “a kick in the guts” for both accommodation and hospitality operators. 

Mandy Enoka is the director of Wanaka Selections Holiday Homes and Te Wanaka Lodge, which combined can sleep 300 people per night. 

The length of the ski season plays a significant role in how accommodation providers fare during winter. Pictured is Treble Cone on Monday (June 28). PHOTO: Ross Whitelaw

Before the bubble paused, Wanaka Selections Holiday Homes had the busiest winter on record booked, but since the bubble was paused, “there’s been just about an emptying of the calendar for the Australian school holidays,” Mandy said. 

Generally, families were still holding on to their August bookings with hopes that the bubble would reopen and some who had cancelled were already trying to rebook, which Mandy said was encouraging. 

“I think our guests are extremely keen to get here and if they can they will but with the lack of dates and the uncertainty it’s really hard,” she said. 

Te Wanaka Lodge is a boutique bed and breakfast primarily attracting couples and “that’s where we are seeing that hesitancy in booking”. 

Whether or not the winter bookings would recover would depend on a range of factors as well as the bubble, Mandy said. 

Edgewater general manager Catherine Bone said the quality and length of ski season would play an important role in winter bookings.

Edgewater had lost $150,000 in bookings since the trans-Tasman bubble was paused.

A significant number of bookings were cancelled for late June and early July, but Catherine said Edgewater was well supported by the domestic market which gave it “a good base”.

Still, the bubble pause and cancellations were of concern: “If something additional happens with the bubble, it could really knock it on the head for us,” she said.

Flexibility was important, Catherine said, “but of course with flexibility comes stress and worry”.

Cabinet has agreed in principle to resume travel with some Australian states from the end of the weekend; the settings for the five other states will be reviewed on July 5.