It's not always vacation. Many people have close family abroad that they want you see. Sometimes with medical issues so they may not get another chance.

I wouldn't travel if vacation was the only reason. Especially if I were living in NZ which is one of the most beautiful places on earth IMO

It's also kinda unfair to expect people to have seen Omikron coming :) with the distance to Europe most people from here in NZ only visit family once a year and often go for months. Suddenly returning would have been difficult and costly.

I'm surprised the fairly left-wing current NZ government is prioritising investors like this though.