Shotover Jet customers are dwindling fast. Up to 500 customers a day would usually be jetboating at this time of year, but now it's around 200.

Businesses in Queenstown have started shutting up shop as tourist numbers plummet and revenues dry up.

Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis met with representatives at an urgent meeting, chaired by Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Jim Boult, in Queenstown on Thursday to discuss the "dire" situation.

It was further exacerbated by the wider border restrictions announced on Thursday evening, essentially banning all non New Zealand residents.

Jo McKenzie-McLean/Stuff Adventure Group managing director Stefan Crawford has suspended his Canyon Explorers business in Queenstown as revenue dries up and to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

Twyford said after the meeting the economic situation for Queenstown and the surrounding districts was daunting.

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"Tourism globally has collapsed and Queenstown is not immune to that ... this is one of the biggest economic shocks in living memory."

Jo McKenzie-McLean/Stuff Ngāi Tahu Tourism chief executive Quinton Hall at its Shotover Jet business in Queenstown.

Adventure Group managing director Stefan Crawford, whose company operates Canyon Explorers, has made more than half his 15 staff redundant and is suspending business from Tuesday.

"Numbers have dried up. There is no more work. Our revenue has completely gone.

"We have managed to keep a small core of staff to help with various jobs – storing away equipment and other chores – but there is only so much cleaning you can do."

The impact was devastating, he said.

"We are not a big operation. We run a pretty tight ship. The emotional rollercoaster has been huge. There have been tears."

The Government's wage subsidy package was of no use to a tourist operation like his that relied solely on tourists for income.

It required operators to sign a declaration that says the employee will be kept in a job, and the employer will "top up" the subsidy.

"In many cases it's another $250 and $300 a week ... multiply that by 15 and my company would be bankrupt before the 12 weeks. We have no income for the additional top up."

Other businesses had also started laying off staff around town, he said.

Quinton Hall, chief executive of Ngāi Tahu Tourism, which owns Shotover Jet, said customers were dwindling fast. Up to 500 customers a day would usually be jetboating at this time of year.

"We are down to about 200 [a day] and we expect that to halve then halve again, then halve a day over the next few days."

Ngāi Tahu employs 50 at its Shotover operation and 500 in the wider group, but has not yet made redundancies.

"We haven't yet but we have to look at everything we can to survive this. When your revenue is virtually drying up in front of your eyes and your cost base isn't, the financial impact is horrendous."

People were still in shock about the scale of the "incomprehensible" and "catastrophic" event, he said.

Twyford said while the Government was looking at how to help "larger and more complex" businesses, he stressed owners should start talking to the banks.

"We made the point very clearly we can't put the entire workforce on the Government payroll.

"What we have to do is be as smart as we can, working with businesses to help them survive and maintain a pathway to recovery when conditions change. The thing with the coronvirus is we don't know how this is going to unfold ... that's very tough on businesses."

The situation was survivable, he said.

"There will be a lot of pain and businesses are going to have to be very innovative to trade their way through this ... There is also a determination to see this out and make sure we have an industry that survives to recover as numbers come back again."

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