The Queenstown Lakes regenerative tourism strategy is officially under way following the unanimous endorsement of the Queenstown Lakes District Councillors at a full council meeting today.

This was the final formal step to adopting the region’s destination management plan ‘Travel to a thriving future’, a partnership between Destination Queenstown (DQ), Lake Wānaka Tourism (LWT), and the Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC), with input from Kāi Tahu and the Department of Conservation.

Two members of the public spoke in favour of the plan; no one spoke against it. Destination Queenstown Chief Executive Mat Woods, Lake Wānaka Tourism Chief Executive Tim Barke, and QLDC General Manager, Strategy and Policy Michelle Morss answered questions from the Council.

Mayor Glyn Lewers told Councillors that the most important thing now was for all of them to individually help drive the district’s plan. “It’s a visceral drive for me personally and as the leaders of this district we have to drive it.”

“The Queenstown Lakes District Mayor has supported our ambitious goal for the visitor economy to be carbon zero by 2030 from the outset, and our goal and the regenerative strategy’s been public since late last year. It’s good to have the official endorsement from our councillors who represent our community. Now it really is time to get on with the 23 projects on the list. I’m looking forward to having the governance in place and setting up our project teams,” says DQ CE Mat Woods.

“The destination planning process was designed to be community-driven from the start,” says LWT CE Tim Barke. “Created with and for the local communities, the people of Queenstown Lakes have expressed their aspirations for what tourism can become. This collective vision provides opportunities for everyone in the region, as well as greater wellbeing for people and the planet.”

As a matter of priority, a dedicated team is already scoping the keystone project of the tourism strategy – carbon zero by 2030. The team consists of QLDC Climate Action Programme Manager Katherine Durman, local energy expert Dr Stephen Batstone, and Tyler Robinson, David Archer, Lindsay and Rodney Payne from Destination Think. The QLDC Climate Reference Group will be asked to offer advice and guidance. Experts from around the world have offered their support in an advisory role, including; Paul Cubbon (Assistant Dean of Innovation, University of British Columbia), Dr Freya Higgins-Desbiolles (Adjunct Snr Lecturer, UniSA Business, University of South Australia), Tito Jankowski (Chief Executive Officer, AirMiners), and Graeme Millen (Managing Director - Climate Tech & Sustainability, Silicon Valley Bank). Dr. Susanne Becken will offer scientific advice (Professor of Sustainable Tourism at Griffith University, Principal Science Investment Advisor with the Department of Conservation, New Zealand). The scoping report is due by the end of March.

Preparations for the first initiative to come out of the ‘Travel to a Thriving Future’ are also well underway. Launching in early April, a funding platform will provide the opportunity for visitors and industry to support localised climate, conservation and biodiversity action.

The Queenstown Lakes regenerative tourism strategy set out to ensure that tourism supports a thriving community – environmentally, socially, culturally and economically. The strategy is an output of the Grow Well | Whaiora Spatial Plan, a formal partnership between QLDC, Kāi Tahu and the Crown and an action in the QLDC Climate and Biodiversity Plan.

The full endorsement of the plan follows two-years’ development with wide-ranging feedback from the community.

“The plan will continue to evolve and the partnership welcomes feedback from the community at any time for consideration at the next periodic review point. So we urge everyone who lives here or has an interest in our region to stay informed and sign up to our newsletter,” says Mayor Glyn Lewers.

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