New Zealand snow fields get border exemptions for international ski staff

With snow fields having been facing potential operating difficulties because of a lack of staff, the New Zealand Government has issued a series of border exemptions for critical skifield workers in the South Island.

The development follows an urgent request issued in March by the Ski Areas Association of New Zealand to allow 100 highly-skilled staff to enter the country for the 2021 winter season, or face having ski fields having to curtail operations.

Without enough qualified ski patrol, ski and snowboard instructors, lift technicians and snow groomers - roles generally filled by a small number of workers who travel between hemispheres for the ski season - the Association claimed some skifields​ faced not being able to operate in 2021 or to cut their operations and visitor numbers by half.

However, as reported by the Otago Daily Times, as of the beginning of this month 27 border exemptions were granted, with others pending.

NZSki Chief Executive Paul Anderson was pleased that the New Zealand Government listened to the industry.

Among the exemptions were 10 snowsports instructors for NZSki’s operations, primarily inbound from North America.

Advising that the sector was also taking responsibility for ensuring there were training pathways for New Zealanders, Anderson said the snowsports instructors were all Level 3, Level 4 and examiners, allowing NZSki to run its trainee programmes and bring New Zealands through as Level 1 instructors.

Anderson stated “we've got training pathways for rookies to come through, but like the snowsports instructors, the very best groomer operators in the world ... go from northern to southern hemisphere in winter.

"We've just got to make sure (immigration officials) understand that to get those high-level skills, that's what you need to do."

Cardrona Alpine Resort and Treble Cone General Manager Bridget Legnavsky said they had exemptions for 14 snowsports instructors and three groomer drivers.

Legnavsky said they would love to have a "fundamental NZ workforce", but there would always be an expert element required from overseas.

While, initially, the ski areas thought, across the country, they would need to bring in 100 people, Legnavsky said the total was about half that, noting “the reality is it's going to cost us a lot to bring these people in, so we've had to have a really good think about return on that people investment.

"We're employing as many Kiwis as we can, who aren't necessarily as skilled, and we're going to have to put on more training, which is exactly what we said we would do."

Both skifield operators had been inundated with applications from New Zealanders this year and Anderson said NZSki received about 400 applications from Australians the day the trans-Tasman bubble opened.

Overall, the ski industry has sought to recruit more New Zealanders into the industry to fill about 1200 skifield jobs.

The Ski Areas Association of New Zealand, which represents 27 ski areas, said the 2020 domestic ski season brought about $169 million of visitor spending and up to 3025 seasonal jobs into the Queenstown Lakes District alone.

Image: Cardrona (top) is set to open on 12th June, preceded by Mt Hutt on 11th June and followed by Coronet Peak (below) open on 19th June, followed by The Remarkables and Treble Cone on 26th June.