Kiwi coming home

Fill out your arrivals card and declare or dispose any at risk goods

For many of us it’s been quite some time since we’ve had to fill out an arrivals card. This declaration form is just as important now as it was pre-pandemic so make sure you bring a pen so you can fill it out on the plane and have it ready to go upon landing. Remember to declare all goods that pose a biosecurity risk including food, plants, wooden products, soil, water, outdoor equipment, and animal products. If in doubt, declare or dispose of them in the amnesty bins provided throughout your pathway on arrival! And remember this includes food or snacks that you may have put aside on the plane! Don’t let the apple your child put into your carry-on turn into a $400 fine.

Avoid bringing at risk goods if at all possible

Think twice about bringing home at-risk goods at the moment. Queues at the airport may be longer due to all the pandemic protocols in place. Having to declare your goods may add a significant amount of time to your arrival. Think twice about the items you need to declare, do you really need to bring them home this time? Or can they wait until a later visit?

Collect your Welcome Home pack quickly

All travellers eligible to bypass MIQ will receive a welcome pack from biosecurity staff. This pack contains your rapid-antigen tests and all you need to know about them including how to report your results and stay safe from COVID-19 while in New Zealand. Please ensure everyone you are travelling with collects a pack. Please avoid asking biosecurity staff any health related or testing questions, they are not medical staff and you will only hold up the queue for yourself and others. If you have more questions after reading the information in the pack, please visit the Unite Against Covid-19 website.

Don’t stop for the detector dogs

The cutest response to New Zealand’s biosecurity network is the team of highly trained detector dogs who check the bags of incoming passengers from planes and boats. When the dog approaches you it’s important to keep walking, the dog will check your bag as you move. You only need to stop if the dog handler asks you to, otherwise you risk slowing down yourself and others behind you. It’s also important to remember that while these dogs may look cute they are working animals. Please avoid trying to pat or touch them. This is especially important to explain to children. If you would like to talk to your kids about the dogs and the important role they play, plus watch a video with the cute new trainees see the Biosecurity New Zealand website.

Be kind

For many of our offshore community finally arriving back into New Zealand will be highly emotional. We have never in our lives had a situation where we have been unable to travel back and forth to see family and friends. Almost all of us have missed important events over the past two years, and getting through the airport at the end of a trip is always the most frustrating part. Biosecurity staff are just doing their jobs, please follow all procedures and have everything ready for staff to check. Dispose of any at risk items in the bins provided to avoid getting a fine, and be patient with staff who are working as fast as they can to process everyone. Please remember biosecurity staff are people too, the last two years have been hard on them as well and we are all looking forward to things getting back to some sort of normal.

For more information on returning to New Zealand including vaccine passports, travelling around NZ and Covid testing centres take a look at our list of official website links here.

Updated 18 March 2022

New Zealand’s reconnection to the world will allow fully vaccinated travellers from Australia to enter New Zealand without the need for quarantine (MIQ) from 11.59 on April 12th. The same date that has already been set for the return of international students and temporary visa holders. Fully vaccinated travellers from visa-waiver countries will be able to enter the country from 11.59pm on May 1 without the need to self isolate.

All New Zealand citizens are now able to enter the country without needing to isolate.

About 60 countries and territories, including Canada and the United States, are on the visa waiver list.

Australian travellers will be able to enter in time for the Australian school holidays and the winter ski season. Non vaccinated travellers are unable to enter at this time.

The Government has signalled they will provide updates on vaccine passports, mask mandates and New Zealand’s Covid protection framework (traffic light settings) shortly.

Before you get to New Zealand:

All air travellers must fill out a New Zealand traveller declaration

Pre-departure testing requirements

Vaccine certification requirements

The Ministry of Health requires all travellers to New Zealand to fill out this declaration before arrival

Remember all travellers need to have had their last vaccination at least 14 days before flying to New Zealand. Those without the required approved vaccinations must undertake isolation in an MIQ facility.

Your trip through the airport arrivals hall has changed due to Covid precautions. Make sure you breeze through biosecurity by reading our handy guide.

My Vaccine Pass – is the official record of your COVID-19 vaccination status for use within Aotearoa New Zealand. Please be aware that this is the only valid document that can be used to access events or venues that require proof of your vaccination status – passes that you have used overseas or examples of international vaccine status will not be accepted in New Zealand. There are some time delays within this process, we recommend that you go through this process prior to returning.

How to register your overseas vaccinations for My Vaccine Pass

The Covid tracer app

The NZ COVID Tracer app helps you protect yourself, your whānau, and your community by enabling faster contact tracing. We recommended downloading before you return and use throughout your time in New Zealand, as you will be expected to either check in via this app or manually when visiting almost every non-residential place throughout New Zealand (e.g. retail, workplaces, hospitality).

Staying safe and getting around New Zealand

Information about the traffic light system (New Zealand is currently at Orange)

What to do if you develop Covid symptoms while in New Zealand.

Lisa Oliver has always loved creating things. As a child she would play with Lego for hours and as she grew up she became interested in sustainability and timber design. After studying Structural Engineering at Canterbury University, she went to work for Holmes Consulting and became involved with the Green Building Council. At the time Lisa was a leader in her field but over the past decade she’s seen a real change in focus.

Lisa and her family in the Netherlands

“Around 10 years ago I became a green star accredited professional and at the time it was very rare for structural engineers to do that. There was a focus on reducing the operational energy of buildings, but the emphasis on the buildings themselves was very minimal. Whereas nowadays, partly because of the improvements we have made in the operational energy and emissions space, and partly because of a deepening of understanding around the emissions associated with the actual building, it’s becoming much more common for structural engineers to be involved in this space.”

In 2017 Lisa was given the opportunity to work in the Netherlands and says she was pleasantly surprised to discover that New Zealand is not far off the rest of the world when it comes to green buildings.

“I think the rest of the world is following a similar path and New Zealand presents some great opportunities and projects for people in this space. We sometimes think we are behind, but you get over to Europe and realise that like here, green buildings are still special projects. As Kiwi engineers we also have some unique skills we can offer international projects.”

The skills Lisa is talking about include our experience in building with timber and in strengthening existing buildings, something which came as a result of the Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes.

Assessing buildings after the Christchurch Earthquake

“After the earthquakes we were assessing a lot of existing buildings, it was a really fast paced learning experience because you were just looking at so many building types and sizes and you had to really think critically about how they were designed to perform and how they actually performed. It was a much greater exposure than you would ever get going from one new build to the next. But this exposure comes in handy when we look at our existing building stock. If we are aiming for how our buildings are going to be performing in say 2050, then most of those are already built. I think the real opportunity both here and overseas is improving what we’ve already got. Repurposing and strengthening existing buildings and making them adaptable for multiple functions, making them more energy and thermally efficient, that’s the real opportunity, and New Zealand is well placed to lead on that.”

When it comes to building with natural materials such as wood, Lisa says companies like Holmes are already ahead of the field in this area, bringing timber designs to the table for clients more and more often.

“What we are seeing is that the scale of the timber projects is growing and the interest from clients is growing as well. The Flowers building in Auckland’s Wynyard precinct is a good example, it’s a three storey commercial space built using timber, with retail on the ground floor and events space on top. We have also been working on various school buildings as well as other commercial projects which are experimenting with timber design.”

For returning Kiwi with offshore experience in sustainability and design there has never been a better opportunity to bring those skills home and get involved in a wide variety of projects.

“What’s exciting is that something that previously used to be only the domain of architects and service engineers is now something that we can have an influence on as structural engineers it provides so many more opportunities to influence the bones of a building, to be able to choose those materials and structural systems which will be the most carbon efficient. It also challenges us to become more carbon literate so we can influence and get that gut feel for what solution will be better.”

Lisa says she is excited about the future of the industry and the people who will help shape it. Her love of timber design is as strong as it was back in her Uni days and she hopes that in the future we will see a greater use of the natural material in larger commercial and multistory buildings.

“As an industry we need to upskill and become more familiar with timber, there is a whole education piece, but long term I would like to see New Zealand pushing the use of timber beyond what it has traditionally been used for, I think there is still a way to go but we are heading in the right direction.”

*This content was produced in partnership with Holmes Consulting

Co-founder of Jucy group, Tim Alpe can still remember the point when the company he built from scratch lost 90% of its revenue overnight. With millions of dollars of refund requests flooding in and borders around the world slamming closed faster than an angry teenager’s bedroom door, there was no way to tell what the future held.

“It’s something you can’t predict or plan for. For our sector in particular, younger travellers and backpackers, the market was completely decimated overnight. We relied heavily on the US and Europe travellers and all of a sudden they stopped coming, there is nothing you can do, you can’t plan for that.”

Tim Alpe

Tim and his brother Dan were forced to bring in external capital, which resulted in the three businesses, rentals, snooze and cruise being split up. Dan continued with the rentals business and Tim focussed on the POD hotels. Despite describing the last few years as ‘horrific’ Tim says he 100% believes New Zealand will once again become a top tourist destination.

“We have a new 300 bed POD hotel opening in central Auckland in September, it was planned before the pandemic, but the new owners backed it’s completion because they see the opportunities in the industry. When it opens it will be the largest hostel accommodation in New Zealand. We still have a bit of a rough time to get through but once the borders properly reopen people will flood in, there is a lot of pent up demand. New Zealand is a bucket list destination, people will be back, it’s just going to take awhile.”

The belief that the market will come back bigger and better is one shared by Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran. He believes the pandemic has given his company time to reflect and reprioritise in order to ensure they come back stronger with the best travel experience possible.

“We’ve been able to look at our domestic and international network and figure out how to offer our customers the best routes, flights and customer experience. This goes all the way through to our future aircraft cabin experience – we’re using customer input to create the best international travel experience for when borders open. Our new international aircraft coming 2024 will offer an incredible travelling experience. Some awesome new innovation is on its way.”

Greg Foran

“We know the future of Air New Zealand must be sustainable, and we think it’s the single largest challenge we have, so we’ve been exploring how to accelerate the reduction of our carbon emissions. By far the biggest contribution to decarbonisation will come from Air New Zealand accessing Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and we made good progress in 2021 towards making SAF a reality in New Zealand. We’ve also put out the call out to traditional aviation manufacturers and entrepreneurs and innovators worldwide to help us get a zero emissions aircraft in the air in the next five years.”

Tourism marketing and business development expert Rēnata West says talking about new innovations and ideas is one of the best ways businesses can stay connected ahead of borders reopening. The California based Kiwi says businesses should be looking to promote what they have been doing over the last two years to refine their products and experiences and clearly show how they have altered their business practices to be more COVID-safe.

“In plain terms, if one of your key selling points was a buffet experience, you may want to think about how eating communally will be received by consumers who have largely only eaten outdoors at tables six feet apart for the last two years.”

Rēnata says his Los Angeles based travel business, Pacific Storytelling, is starting to see an increased interest in the New Zealand market, and notes that a change to the way people work is creating new and exciting opportunities.

“People in North America have some of the lowest levels of paid holidays in the world, but the pandemic has created a wider acceptance of remote working, this is offering people more flexibility and option to travel further afield. It also allows them to spend more time in a location and have a more meaningful experience.”

Rēnata West

“During the pandemic Aotearoa did a really good job showing off the country through digital tools like video and interviews with local personalities. This allowed the country to be brought into the living rooms and home offices of those in North America and now we are seeing this translate into an appetite to visit. We need to keep up that Kiwi storytelling to highlight our New Zealand story, the things like culture and Maori heritage that make Aotearoa unique, the things you won’t find anywhere else.”

Making the most of the Kiwi storytelling is something New Zealand Story CEO David Downs says all export businesses can benefit from, not just those in the tourism industry.

“Having an association with brand New Zealand is a great way of boosting your business. Our research data tells us that ‘Brand NZ’ is still strong, and while we wait for borders to reopen it’s really critical that all businesses are able to communicate a strong brand story and have a good online presence in order to stay front of mind in-market.

David says he hopes the lessons learned in the pandemic will continue to benefit businesses well into the future.

“As we start to emerge from this crisis I hope that people don’t just go back to business as usual. Instead we should be taking the lessons we have learned and looking at what needs to be fixed or changed. After all, the best time to fix the roof is when it’s not raining.”

Both Greg and Tim have had time to reflect on the past two years. For Tim the crisis made him realise some things really are just out of your control.

“I spent a lot of time panicking and sweating over stuff I couldn’t control, and as much as it’s devastating and stressful, I learnt you can’t take it personally. I think time is a big healer, you think about things you did or things you could have done over and over again, but eventually you get to a place where you are like ok we will get through this. The tourism sector in New Zealand will grow significantly in the future. I think the key for many businesses has been to survive, now they need to revive and hopefully in the not too distant future they will thrive.”

Greg says if he could go back to 2019 and give himself one piece of advice it would be the reminder to ‘panic slowly.’

“Air New Zealand has been around for a long time and has weathered its fair share of storms with level headed people calmly navigating constant change and uncertainty. Giving yourself a moment to gather all the information is crucial and I would say it’s how we’ve gotten through the countless challenges thrown our way. Grit is also an important quality at a time like this, two years in and we still have closed borders. It takes real resilience and you need to pace yourself, so I would say to people keep one eye on today and the other on tomorrow.”

If you would like to hear more about this topic or hear more of Tim’s story please join our online World Class speaker series. Find out more here

Auckland born James Gemmell says he has always loved watching Kiwis perform on the world stage and being able to tell their stories to countries that admire them. But after years fronting sport for Sky UK, he was ready for his next challenge. So when independent television production company Whisper won a six year contract to produce coverage of the Black Caps cricket for Spark Sport, James jumped at the opportunity, and along with his English wife Olivia packed up and prepared to move their two young boys to Aotearoa, in the middle of a pandemic.

“I am not sure if I ever stopped and really thought about how hard it was, bringing my whole family halfway across the world. This was mid pandemic, we had two little boys. It was by no means a stress free experience, but it was an easy decision. The pinch point was probably the two weeks in quarantine that was hard, but Olivia and I knew we were doing it all for the right reasons.”

James and his wife Olivia have recently moved their young family to Auckland.

The opportunities for James’ two sons, Teddy (3) and Toby (1) were a big part of those ‘right reasons’ and while the boys are loving their new Kiwi lifestyle, James says there is always an added pressure on parents when they relocate their children.

“It’s taken an intangible toll on Olivia and I. Our inherent concerns for our boys have been heightened in the past few months. We want to make sure they are settled, to make sure they are happy. I think the displacement and the move definitely takes a toll on parents, but it’s fantastic to see them settling in so well.”

After more than a decade on camera, James was looking to transition into the business and management side of production, and had been impressed with the growth of UK-based Whisper. Global entertainment giant Sony recently invested in the company and James says it was pure serendipity that they chose New Zealand as their first international foray.

“Whisper saw opportunity in New Zealand and decided they needed someone down here serving the business in this part of the world. They felt it would be helpful to have a Kiwi at the helm, someone who knew the country and the culture and knows how things are done here. I was lucky that I fit all those requirements.”

The content creation market has exploded in recent years, and with that has come a changing broadcast model. James says this change brings exciting opportunities to engage with tomorrow’s sports fans, particularly in a country as sports mad as New Zealand.

James returned to New Zealand to take up a role with television production company Whisper.

“There is no denying that streaming is the future, it may not be the only way that people watch their content but it will be a part of it. Seeing Spark Sport and New Zealand Cricket commit to a six year partnership shows that forward-thinking organisations here are on board with this future. I definitely think you can sense the opportunity here. In my industry in particular there is as much opportunity, if not more, than I thought there would be. it’s really exciting to see.”

Like many Kiwi returning home, it wasn’t just the work opportunities but also the lifestyle that appealed to James and his family.

“It was great that we were able to move her over summer, the weather has been great and the boys have had lots of beach time. New Zealand is a vibrant country, it’s culturally diverse, it’s a little slower paced than the bigger markets, but we are past the point where we are going out and painting the town red! We can immediately see the benefit for us and our family. I think we both appreciate that if we throw ourselves into it, this will be a wonderful experience for our family.”

Jame’s wife Olivia is a personal trainer and teacher, and is in the process of launching a fitness club specialising in connecting new Kiwi and their families, many of whom will be making a life here for the first time. The ability to establish connections is important to James who says moving home has highlighted just how much New Zealand has changed.

James two young boys are enjoying the Kiwi lifestyle

“Auckland has changed out of sight in the last thirteen years, it’s bigger, it’s bolder, it’s more outward looking. New Zealand is going through some real demographic changes at the moment and it will be so interesting and exciting to see how things evolve as more long term expats come home.”

James and his family are looking forward to the rest of the New Zealand summer, but like many Kiwi who have lived offshore, he will always think of more than one country as home.

“My heart will always be in two places, we still have our family home in the UK and who knows what the future will bring, right now we are just going to see where this journey takes us. It’s fantastic to be in Aotearoa and with our two young boys and with all that is going on in the world we are really grateful for the freedoms and excited about this next chapter.”

A key focus for New Zealand in 2022 is to refresh and strengthen our global trade relationships, and to not only reconnect our country to the world but also the world to Aotearoa. And it is here that our offshore and returning Kiwi community should play a vital role.

One million Kiwi live offshore. This community offers New Zealand an incredible resource of skills, knowledge, connections and experience. Harnessing the power and inspiration of this community is key to ensuring a smooth and successful recovery and navigating the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead as we work to re-energise our economy and show our trading partners we remain competitive on the world stage.

Research shows 18% or almost a fifth of Kiwi live offshore, many of them in countries which are several months further down the track with their opening up strategies. These Kiwi have already navigated various reopening challenges and are keen to share this knowledge particularly with the business community. The recent discovery of the Covid Omicron strain is a timely reminder that the pandemic situation will continue to shift and evolve. This is yet another reminder of the huge potential to be gained from learning from the ongoing experiences of this community.

Ganesh Nana, Chair of the New Zealand Productivity Commission – Te Kōmihana Whai Hua o Aotearoa, recently urged New Zealand to “be proactive in ensuring the distinctive skills, knowledge, experience, and connections of our offshore and returning Kiwi community are used to lift innovation, productivity, and the wellbeing of all in Aotearoa.”

Utilising the power of a country’s offshore community or diaspora, is not a new phenomenon. In fact many countries around the world are actively engaging in research on how best to leverage this growing opportunity.

The International Organisation for Migration predicts that over the next decade, governments, multilateral organizations and corporations will be drawn to the diaspora sector, with investment in it growing substantially. The sector will be seen as a “whole-of-government” issue that needs time, attention and resources.

IOM spokesperson for Asia and the Pacific, Itayi Viriri, says diasporas have a huge potential for leading sustainable development in their countries of origin and this potential is often most evident in island nations with large diaspora communities such as New Zealand.

“Members of a diaspora can help open doors for their country of origin politically, through public diplomacy and economically, through nostalgic trade and their own commercial activities. These opportunities would otherwise be difficult for the country to achieve due to limited visibility on the international stage, lack of connectivity due to geographic remoteness, and/or limited resources for formal diplomatic or trade promotion activities. This bridging role of diaspora communities is an invaluable resource for countries of origin, however it cannot be assumed as a given. Institutions in the country of origin must work to build and maintain the trust of their offshore community who may easily feel neglected or disconnected if there is a lack of proactive outreach.”

Across the world we can see inspiring examples of how connecting with a country’s offshore community has a positive impact on the growth and development of a nation.

For example, the Institute for International Economics found that Koreans living in the United States have generated an increase of trade between the two countries by around 15-20%.

The Korean Government considers offshore communities to be valuable sources of global talent and potential investment. By leveraging its overseas population with an eye towards enhancing national economic competitiveness, Korea trades more with countries where a larger number of ethnic Koreans reside. In 2017, more than 600 small and medium-sized companies in Korea signed deals with Korean entrepreneurs living overseas to further enhance Korea’s economic profile.

Further research this time into offshore Indian communities in the US further supports this economic advancement theory. Indians living and working in Silicon Valley in California, showed 27% regularly exchanged information on jobs or business opportunities and technology with people back in India. 46% had been a contact for domestic Indian business and 23% had invested their own money into Indian start-ups.

There is no reason why New Zealand shouldn’t be able to harness similar benefits from our offshore community. Our Kea Future Aspirations Survey showed 25% of Kea’s offshore community are interested in being a brand ambassador for New Zealand, 18% are interested in New Zealand board and advisory positions and 17% are interested in giving time and mentorship to NZ businesses. The opportunities that this community presents are there for the taking.

As we look ahead to 2022 and focus on reconnecting with the world we must make sure that we are not wasting an opportunity to harness the power of our offshore community. Next year will represent a key turning point in our battle against Covid and it is vital that we all work together to ensure the best outcomes for the productivity of all Aotearoa.

Kāhore taku toa i te toa takitahi, he toa takitini – we cannot succeed without the support of those around us.

If you’d like to enlist the ideas, experience and networks of our offshore Kiwi to support your business, get in touch with Kea and let’s engage more of our global explorers for a more productive New Zealand.

CONTRIBUTOR

Toni Truslove

Kea Global CEO

Kea New Zealand

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