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Supporting tourism to become regenerative

An area of focus is gaining more value from the visitor industry. This is because tourism is our district's largest industry and combined with construction employs more than 60% of our local workforce.

Destination Queenstown and Lake Wānaka Tourism market our district internationally and nationally. From the visitors who are attracted here, the Economic Futures team works to maximise the benefits for our community. This includes efforts to increase the margins and wages in the industry and the ability to find and retain staff.

Key projects

Understanding the Lifetime value of the visitor 

For too long we have focused on measuring the value of tourism by adding up the transactions made while the visitor is in New Zealand. This neglects the longer-term influence that visit may have on a person’s subsequent purchasing, investment, study, and migration choices. The team is working with Central Otago District Council and Auckland Unlimited to research the lifetime value of the visitor. This will help curate the visitor experience, with the aim of more effectively influencing visitors’ long-term choices and economic benefit to the country once they return home. 

Destination Management Planning 

The pandemic created a unique opportunity to rethink the purpose of the visitor sector, the principles we operate under, and how we measure success. QLDC partnered with Destination Queenstown and Lake Wānaka Tourism to develop a Destination Management Plan for the district – Regenerative tourism by 2030.  More information on this plan can be found at: www.regenerativetourism.co.nz 

Regenerative Tourism Plan (PDF, 9.29MB)

Tourism Marketing Organisations

Destination Queenstown

www.queenstownnz.co.nz 

Lake Wānaka Tourism

www.lakewanaka.co.nz