A seasonal worker agent says employers in Australia and New Zealand are turning away from Vanuatu due to its ongoing border closures.
It comes as the Vanuatu Opposition calls on the government to repatriate hundreds of seasonal workers who have been unable to return home for months.
With Vanuatu's borders closed for much of the pandemic, some seasonal workers have been in Australia and New Zealand for as long as two years now.
There are around 1000 in Australia and 600 in New Zealand waiting to fly home.
Vanuatu's Labour Commissioner, Murielle Meltenoven, said they needed to be patient, and that the government was set to announce new repatriation flights "very soon".
A seasonal worker agent based in New Zealand, Dan Dempsey, said some employers in Australia and New Zealand were already shifting their recruitment from Vanuatu to other Pacific countries with open borders.
"There's a lot of losing faith in Vanuatu going on, because of what's happening," Mr Dempsey said.
Photo file source Vanuatu Seasonal Workers Facebook