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14.4% of Otago employees work in tourism and hospitality

Copilot training for Otago hospitality and tourism offices

Bring guest enquiries, booking workbooks and duty handovers into an office training session. Practise reviewing the result before it affects a traveller's plans.

EnquireWhere Copilot helps
Illustration generated with AI.
Employees in tourism and hospitality
18,186Otago, February 2025
Share of Otago employees
14.4%2 of 16 regions
Share across New Zealand
9.2%all regions, February 2025
Location quotient
1.56×more concentrated than nationally

Tourism and hospitality in Otago

A practical hospitality pilot can start with the approved email and workbook tasks your team already handles. Microsoft documents Copilot support inside office apps, while licences and tenant settings affect the experience.4 Check the participating accounts before the workshop. Use a completed, redacted enquiry so the supervisor has a known answer against which to assess the draft.

TheColab works with reservations staff, administrators and managers using generic visitor-business scenarios. A Dunedin accommodation office might trace an arrival request through an email thread, compare it with a practice booking workbook and prepare a handover note. The duty manager checks the special arrangement. Staff learn to distinguish a guest's request from something the property has confirmed.

Paid employees in tourism and hospitality went from 18,103 in February 2020 to 18,186 in February 2025 (+0.5%).

Share of paid employees in tourism and hospitality, by region

Share of employees in tourism and hospitality by region, Otago highlighted
RegionChartShareNZ×
West Coast 15.7% 9.2% 1.7×
Otago (this page) 14.4% 9.2% 1.6×
Nelson 11.9% 9.2% 1.3×
Tasman 10.0% 9.2% 1.1×
Bay of Plenty 9.5% 9.2% 1.0×
Waikato 9.3% 9.2% 1.0×
Canterbury 9.1% 9.2% 1.0×
Wellington 9.1% 9.2% 1.0×
Southland 9.1% 9.2% 1.0×
Northland 9.0% 9.2% 1.0×
Auckland 8.8% 9.2% 0.9×
Taranaki 8.7% 9.2% 0.9×
Marlborough 8.5% 9.2% 0.9×
Manawatū-Whanganui 7.7% 9.2% 0.8×
Hawke's Bay 7.3% 9.2% 0.8×
Gisborne 6.6% 9.2% 0.7×

Paid employees at business locations in the region, February 2025. The tick marks the national share. × is the regional share divided by the national share.

Source: Stats NZ, Business Demography Statistics, February 2020 and 2025.

What tourism and hospitality covers in Otago

Divisions in tourism and hospitality, Otago
DivisionChartEmployeesShareNZ×
Hospitality 14,516 11.5% 7.2% 1.6×
Arts and recreation 3,670 2.9% 2.0% 1.5×

ANZSIC06 divisions in this industry group: share of the region's paid employees, against New Zealand.

Source: Stats NZ, Business Demography Statistics, February 2020 and 2025.

Local context

  • Scenic Hotel Dunedin City is a verified accommodation operation, and Skyline Queenstown combines visitor experiences and dining. Those service differences call for distinct reference documents and review responsibilities.1,21,2
  • Queenstown's destination programme identifies digital confidence and capability work for visitor businesses. Small office exercises provide a practical way to test new tools without assuming a sector-wide adoption level.33

Organisations are named for local context only. No relationship with them is implied.

Towns in Otago

Each town page has its own figures and local brief.

Or see Microsoft Copilot training across Otago.

Where Copilot helps tourism and hospitality teams

  • Check the latest guest request in Outlook

    Summarise an authorised practice thread and ask for the latest request, agreed details and unanswered questions. Draft a reply using the property's approved wording. A reservations colleague checks whether a previous request was superseded and verifies every promise. Keep sending under staff control, and inspect the recipient and attachments before the message leaves the office.

    • Reservations administrator
    • Copilot in Outlook

  • Explain a booking workbook total

    In Excel, ask for a calculation that separates confirmed bookings from cancellations in a dummy export. State whether the unit is a reservation or a room night. Inspect the formula on records that were amended, and reconcile the result with the known practice report. The operations manager can then assess the interpretation before it informs any staffing discussion.

    • Hospitality office analyst
    • Copilot in Excel

  • Review a Teams operations handover

    For a supported meeting configuration, use Copilot in Teams to prepare a draft action summary from an approved record. Teams support is part of Microsoft's documented work experience.4 The meeting owner checks which arrangements were confirmed and who will follow up. Remove unnecessary personal guest details before putting the accepted summary into the duty handover process.

    • Duty operations manager
    • Copilot in Teams

  • Scope a staff guest-policy agent

    Copilot Studio can create agents with selected knowledge sources.5 A bounded internal pilot locates the current arrival policy or service description for staff. Test a request for an arrangement outside the policy and require manager escalation. Keep live booking records, card details and safety decisions outside the agent's knowledge and actions until the organisation approves a broader purpose.

    • Business platform administrator
    • Copilot Studio

Verify a special arrival arrangement

  1. Prepare a fictional guest thread and the current property policy.
  2. Ask Outlook for the request and the details the property already confirmed.
  3. Have the duty manager decide the outstanding arrangement using the source records.
  4. Review the final reply and carry only necessary information into the staff handover.

Courses

  1. 1Introductory

    Microsoft Copilot foundations

    A first hands-on session on Copilot Chat and Copilot in Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

  2. 2Organisation

    Copilot rollout and readiness

    Prepare the tenant, choose a pilot, and measure whether people use Copilot well.

Tourism and hospitality in other regions

Other industries in Otago

See Microsoft Copilot for tourism and hospitality across New Zealand, or all training in Otago.

Tourism and hospitality in Otago: questions

Do we need to expose guest records to learn?

Use a fictional enquiry and a synthetic workbook for the opening session. That lets staff practise the review process while the organisation decides which live information is suitable for approved use.

Can Outlook decide a cancellation exception?

Let the reservations manager make that decision. The assistant can prepare a thread summary and draft explanation, which staff check against the current policy and the accepted booking terms.

What account checks come before a workshop?

Your administrator should verify the supported apps and assigned access for attendees. Microsoft's licence and tenant distinctions mean a demonstrated feature may not be available in every account.4

Can an Otago property host the session?

TheColab comes to your team with exercises built around the confirmed office setup. Include the staff who prepare guest replies and the manager who can approve operational arrangements.

Train your tourism and hospitality team in Otago

  1. ScopeHeadcount, sites, Microsoft 365 plan and licences, and the teams you want to start with.
  2. PlanWe propose a course, a pilot group and a format, and agree the files and meetings to use.
  3. TrainOn-site or over Teams, in Outlook, Word, Excel and Teams, with your own work.
  • In person
  • Remote
  • Half-day workshop
  • Full-day workshop
  • Team rollout

Independent training by TheColab. Not affiliated with Microsoft.

Enquire

Tell us about your team in Otago. We reply by email with a suggested course and format.

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Sources

Written 6 October 2026. Employment figures come from Stats NZ Business Demography Statistics.