Queenstown's bracing for an onslaught of summer visitors but is struggling to retain enough workers to service demand.
The tourist hotspot is under pressure from a lack of affordable housing, which is leading some businesses to start building their own staff accommodation.
Tourism company Real Journeys is planning to build 50 new units at popular attraction Walter Peak.
"We're hosting more than 250,000 people over there each year," Real Journeys CEO Richard Lauder told 1 NEWS.
However, for smaller businesses that's not an option and it's costing them employees.
"The first thing that I look at apart from their job qualifications is do they have a contact phone number and do they have an address on their resume," Yonder Restaurant Manager Ryan Morris said.
Several new affordable housing developments are in the works in the region, but most are several years away.
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