MIQ’s eighth voucher release via virtual lobby – 18 Nov 2021
Published: 18 November 2021
At 1pm today, the eighth release of rooms through the virtual lobby took place successfully.
On this page
Statement by Joint Head of MIQ Chris Bunny
The lobby opened about 20 minutes before 12 noon today.
At 1pm 14,599 people were moved into the queue – this represented 22,406 passengers. These numbers grew as people entered the queue throughout the room release (these people go to the back of the queue). There were 16,278 people in the queue in total, representing 24,675 passengers. 28% of passengers got a booking.
It is important to note the differences between the 'total people in the queue' and 'total number of potential passengers'. The total number of potential passengers (24,675) provides an indication of how many people are attempting to come back to New Zealand at this time. However, the 16,278 indicates the amount of groups travelling and is a close indication of the demand for rooms, which is how MIQ capacity is measured – people who are booking on behalf of 2, 3 or 4 people will usually only be in 1 or 2 rooms.
Therefore, the 'total number of people in the queue' is a better representation of the ratio of people versus rooms available. (Note: 2 people travelling together can only book 1 room; 3 or 4 travellers can book 1 or 2 rooms; 5 and 6 travellers can book 2 or 3 rooms; 7 or more travellers can book up to 6 rooms.)
6,214 people from 126 countries managed to secure MIQ vouchers – that’s across 4,230 rooms.
More than 43,500 people have secured vouchers through the last 8 room releases.
Rooms started being released at 1pm and were gone by 3:45pm.
Approximately 46% of people who participated in the room release today were based in New Zealand. This could be people booking on behalf of other people based overseas, or could be people planning to travel overseas for business, to see family etc and return to New Zealand. As the rest of the world opens up, people participating in room releases could likely be New Zealanders based in New Zealand wishing to travel offshore and return home.
Dates for today’s release were available across November, December, January and February. This was the biggest room release we have done through the lobby which includes the increased capacity created by the 7-day stay. We are phasing the release of the extra rooms created through the 7-day stay, as we closely monitor our capacity in light of the community outbreak and re-build our reserve.
December and January dates were the first to be taken. The last dates to go were the November dates.
There are still several thousand rooms to be released through to the end of February – we are closely monitoring our capacity in light of the community outbreak and will release as many rooms as we can through regular lobby releases. The next room release is to be confirmed.
There is not an unlimited number of MIQ rooms and we do not release them all at once. We understand people want to enter MIQ on a date of their choosing, but we have to ensure arrivals in New Zealand occur in a safe, managed way. We have already brought over 190,000 people back to New Zealand safely and will continue to focus on the safe return of more Kiwis.
Rooms released today
November — 659
December — 1,235
January — 1,146
February — 1,190
Top countries (by departure point)
Note: This is people not rooms.
Australia — 1707 passengers
Great Britain — 755 passengers
India — 668 passengers
USA — 625 passengers
China — 261 passengers
United Arab Emirates — 169 passengers
Singapore – 143 passengers
Canada — 132 passengers
Philippines – 121 passengers
Korea – 113 passengers
Summary of room releases
| Room release 1 – 20 Sept | Room release 2 – 28 Sept | Room release 3 – 5 Oct | Room release 4 – 12 Oct | Room release 5 – 21 Oct | Room release 6 – 2 Nov | Room release 7 – 9 Nov | Room release 8 – 18 Nov | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| People in lobby | 25,000 | 26,700 | 25,100 | 22,459 | 19,823 | 15,925 | 14,205 – representing 22,458 passengers1 | 14,599 – representing 22,406 passengers1 |
| Total people in queue | 31,900 | 31,319 | 28,406 | 24,987 | 21,368 | 17,665 – representing 26,580 passengers1 | 16,277 – representing 24,695 passengers1 | 16,278 – representing 24,675 passengers1 |
| Total people who got vouchers | 5,364 | 6,231 | 6,449 | 5,015 | 3,516 | 5,483 | 5,888 | 6,214 |
| Total number of countries | 117 | 125 | 126 | 111 | 97 | 109 | 128 | 126 |
| Total Number of rooms | 3,205 | 3,718 | 3,739 | 2,927 | 2,103 | 3,747 | 4,039 | 4,230 |
| Room numbers by month |
September- 338 October – 1767 November - 600 December - 500 |
October – 1,434 November -1,600 December - 684 |
October – 316 November -1,501 December - 1,201 January - 721 |
November -159 December - 1,197 January - 1,571 |
December - 1,000 January - 1,103 |
December – 1,103 January - 1,144 February – 1,500 |
November – 507 December - 1,337 January – 1,035 February – 1,160 |
November – 659 December — 1,235 January – 1,146 February – 1,190 |
| Top Countries |
Australia —1352 passengers Great Britain —774 passengers India —460 passengers USA — 453 passengers China —268 passengers |
Australia — 1629 passengers Great Britain— 791 passengers India — 647 passengers USA — 495 passengers China — 263 passengers |
Australia — 1296 passengers Great Britain —970 passengers USA— 722 passengers India— 583 passengers China— 272 passengers. |
Australia — 986 passengers Great Britain — 773 passengers USA —541 passengers India— 475 passengers United Arab Emirates — 211 passengers |
Australia— 714 passengers Great Britain — 424 passengers USA — 423 passengers India — 400 passengers China — 180 passengers |
Australia — 1258 passengers Great Britain — 747 passengers India — 589 passengers USA — 581 passengers China — 235 passengers |
Australia — 1399 passengers Great Britain — 779 passengers USA — 633 passengers India — 607 passengers China — 274 passengers |
Australia — 1707 Great Britain — 755 India — 668 USA — 625 China — 261 |
1 Footnote: This data differs from previous releases due to the change in passport entry requirements for the lobby. People are now required to enter the passport numbers of all passengers travelling in their group, and only 1 member of the group can enter the lobby.
https://www.miq.govt.nz/about/news/miqs-eighth-voucher-release-via-virtual-lobby-18-nov-2021/
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