ExportNZ’s Executive Director, Catherine Beard, welcomed the announcement that there will be some MIQ rooms set aside for urgent exporter travel.

"We have been talking and writing to MBIE officials and Ministers for months about setting aside MIQ rooms for exporters who have had urgent travel requirements but no way of being prioritised for MIQ rooms. While this is a modest allocation of rooms, it is at least a step in the right direction."

"Exporters have been doing it increasingly tough to be cut off from their customers for so long, particularly as the rest of the world starts to get back to business, doing trade shows and having face to face meetings."

"Manufacturing exporters have had a particularly tough time where they have had multi-million dollar plant installations to do which required them sending technical staff overseas, but they could not get them home".

Catherine Beard said while it is a step in the right direction, and exporters appreciate the efforts of NZTE, Government needs to focus on developing solutions that will increase capacity for safe people movement through the border. "Business needs the ‘reconnecting with the world’ work sped up alongside the vaccination rates. Everyone having to go through the "eye of the needle" that is MIQ just will not work for much longer and will see exports suffer.

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