New Zealand’s SkyCity Entertainment Group says it will reopen its SkyCity Hamilton and Queenstown properties from Wednesday after the government revised down the national alert level for areas outside of Auckland.
The majority of the nation will move to Alert Level 2 from 11.59pm on 7 September 2021, although masks will remain mandatory and capacity limits will be in place at all bars, pubs and clubs.
Auckland will remain under Alert Level 4 after 20 new cases of COVID-19 were reported on Tuesday – all of them in New Zealand’s most populous city – meaning SkyCity’s flagship property, SkyCity Auckland, will remain closed.
In a filing, the company said it will reopen its Hamilton and Queenstown properties “in a staged manner and with additional health and safety measures in place to reflect the Ministry of Health’s latest recommendations and guidelines.
However, in Queenstown, “whilst the larger SkyCity Queenstown property is expected to reopen from 8 September 2021, the smaller Wharf Casino property remains closed as the ongoing border restrictions continue to have a detrimental effect on the local Queenstown economy in particular, which is largely dependent on tourism.”
The company’s Australian casino, SkyCity Adelaide, remains unaffected by COVID outbreaks currently sweeping across much of the region.
Its New Zealand properties have all been closed since mid-August.
