20 August 2021
Ref: DOIA 2122-0294
S Johnson
Email: [FYI request #16334 email]
Dear S Johnson
Thank you for your email of 7 August 2021 to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (the
Ministry) requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following information:
Can you please provide a breakdown for the rest of 2021 of the number of remaining to be
released for booking by month as per the disclosure on the MIQ booking website:
Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) is an important part of our border measures to keep COVID-19
out of New Zealand and is a key part of New Zealand’s elimination strategy. It allows us to ensure people
returning or entering New Zealand do not have COVID-19 before they enter the community.
The Managed Isolation Allocation System (MIAS) ensures the number of people arriving does not exceed
the available rooms for returnees needing to complete 14 days in isolation before safely returning home.
There are consistently a significant number of people on the MIAS site searching for an available date
(19,695 per day on average 3-9 August 2021). If a room becomes available on the site but is no longer
there after a short period of time, this is because another person has booked it — in periods of high
demand there are often hundreds of people competing for rooms at the same time.
The current situation reflects a demand versus supply issue. Unfortunately, in periods of high demand
many people will miss out on securing an MIQ voucher, regardless of the system that is used.
Vouchers for MIQ are gradually released in batches over several weeks and months to assist people in
different time zones. Vouchers are usually released once airlines confirm their schedules with MIQ.
At the moment, most of August has been released but only 40 per cent of November has been released.
We will keep releasing progressively, and in any given week, vouchers are released as people’s plans
change and vouchers get cancelled. Bigger releases of vouchers do occur, with the previous big release in
July, when 3,500 vouchers were released.
During mid-March to mid-June, we had a sustained period of lower demand where MIQ spaces were
available for many weeks. At that time, people were urged to take advantage of the available spaces.
For more information about MIQ, including vouchers, please visit this section on the MIQ website:
https://www.miq.govt.nz/about/media-centre/common-topics-for-media-questions/.
2122-0294
Please see the following table, which shows the number of rooms yet to be released for 2021 as at 7
August 2021:
Month
MIQ rooms stil to be released
September
808
October
2381
November
2342
December
6133
Total
11,664
The above information is point in time and reflects what was the most up to date figures as at 7 August
2021, when your request for official information was made. Please note the numbers change quickly as
vouchers are released, and cancelled vouchers return to the system.
I trust you find this information helpful.
Yours sincerely
Stacey Munro-Flynn
General Manager, Programmes and Change
Managed Isolation and Quarantine
