Queenstown Mayor Jim Boult agrees the tourism township is heading for 18.5 percent unemployment - but only if it does nothing

Unemployment is projected to rise from 1.1 percent to this level in March if early Infometrics modelling is right

Boult says the numbers are based on a do-nothing scenario and that isn't going to happen.

He says the vital trans-Tasman bubble will be the difference between businesses avoiding going under.