No one left in the queue for MIQ’s ninth voucher release via virtual lobby – 25 Nov 2021
Published: 25 November 2021
At 4pm today, the ninth release of rooms through the virtual lobby took place successfully.
On this page
Statement by Joint Head of MIQ Chris Bunny
Today was the first room release following the Government’s border re-opening announcement yesterday. Fully vaccinated New Zealanders and other eligible travellers can travel to NZ from Australia without staying in MIQ from 11.59pm Sunday, 16 January 2022. Fully vaccinated New Zealanders and other eligible travellers can travel to NZ from all other countries from 11.59pm Sunday, 13 February 2022.
These changes meant we saw a significant drop in the number of people participating in today’s room release. There were only 5,426 people in the lobby at 4pm – approximately 9,200 less people than last week. For the first time since running the virtual lobbies, everybody that joined the queue had the opportunity to enter the Managed Isolation Allocation System website. After 2 hours, there were still rooms remaining with no one left in the queue. The room release ended with not all rooms being taken – there were 91 rooms left for February.
Despite the changes for travellers from Australia, this remained the top country for passenger numbers. Summaries of each room release can be found in the table below.
Summary of the stats
The lobby opened about 10 minutes before 3pm today.
At 4pm 5,426 people were moved into the queue — this represented 8,182 passengers. These numbers grew as people entered the queue throughout the room release (these people go to the back of the queue). There were 6,307 people in the queue in total, representing 9,341 passengers.
4,927 people from 122 countries managed to secure MIQ vouchers – that’s across 3,320 rooms. The number of available rooms was 3,411, but not all rooms were taken.
Dates for today’s release were available across November, December, January and February. December and January dates were the first to be taken. November and February were the least popular. At 5:45pm there were 154 rooms left for February and there was no one left in the queue. The room release finished with 91 rooms left for February.
More than 48,400 people have secured vouchers through the last 9 room releases.
Approximately 44% 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.
There are still several thousand rooms to be released through to the end of February. The next room release is to be confirmed.
We have already brought over 192,000 people back to New Zealand safely and will continue to focus on the safe return of more Kiwis.
Rooms released today
November – 357
December — 988
January – 850
February – 1,216 (not all of these were taken)
Top countries (by departure point)
Note: This is people not rooms:
Australia — 1175 passengers
India — 599 passengers
USA — 505 passengers
Great Britain — 481 passengers
China — 213 passengers
United Arab Emirates — 127 passengers
South Africa — 125 passengers
Philippines — 111 passengers
Fiji — 93 passengers
Hong Kong — 93 passengers
| 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 | Room release 9 – 25 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 | 5,426 -representing 8,182 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 | 6,307 - representing 9,341 passengers1 |
| Total people who got vouchers | 5,364 | 6,231 | 6,449 | 5,015 | 3,516 | 5,483 | 5,888 | 6,214 | 4,927 |
| Total number of countries | 117 | 125 | 126 | 111 | 97 | 109 | 128 | 126 | 122 |
| Total Number of rooms | 3,205 | 3,718 | 3,739 | 2,927 | 2,103 | 3,747 | 4,039 | 4,230 | 3,411 available; 3,320 taken |
| 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 |
November – 357 December — 988 January – 850 February – 1,216 (not all of these were taken) |
| 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 |
Australia — 1175 India — 599 USA — 505 Great Britain — 481 China — 213 |
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/no-one-left-in-the-queue-for-miqs-ninth-voucher-release-via-virtual-lobby-25-nov-2021/
Please note: This content will change over time and can go out of date.