Tourism operators say they're facing a staffing crisis, as the country fully reopens next month. 

Questions remain over how New Zealand's recovering tourism industry will cope... with estimates 70–80 percent of the sector's workforce was lost due to Covid. 

Haka Tourism Group General Manager Eve Lawrence told Tim Dower it's down to a combination of people being forced to change careers, and people now flocking overseas. 

That was the year which saw waves of young people move to Australia chasing more jobs and bigger pay packets. 

“I think we’re gonna probably see the biggest migration we’ve seen since 2012 this year.” 

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