The Queenstown Lakes region has accepted possibly the most significant challenge and opportunity of our time. It invites visitors and businesses to support the district’s goal of a regenerative, carbon-zero visitor economy by 2030.

Destination Queenstown chief executive Mat Woods outlined the initiative at MEETINGS 2023 in Wellington.

Woods added that Queenstown is performing spectacularly after the Covid-induced slump. Visitation has already recovered to pre-Covid levels, a faster rate of progress on that front than the rest of New Zealand has achieved overall.

The challenge for Queenstown Lakes is to attain carbon-zero status, with electric jetboats and aircraft likely to play a part.

In the meantime, the region’s roadmap to its ambitious goal is detailed in the Queenstown Lakes destination management plan (DMP), Travel to a thriving future which was created through a partnership between two neighbouring regional tourism organisations; Destination Queenstown and Lake Wānaka Tourism; along with the Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) and with input from Kāi Tahu and the Department of Conservation.

The roadmap was developed over the past two years with wide-ranging feedback from tourism operators and local communities and was fully endorsed by QLDC in February 2023.

Tourism is the primary industry in this alpine region, renowned for its spectacular natural beauty. The DMP sets out to drive a solution to the challenges and opportunities high-volume visitation poses for the region and ensure that tourism supports a thriving community – environmentally, socially, culturally and economically.

Scoping work has already begun on how the region will decarbonise the visitor economy – this keystone project is considered a prerequisite to creating a regenerative tourism economy. Several Queenstown organisations are already aligned with the carbon zero goal, including the world’s first electric jetboat (Shotover Jet), the world’s first accommodation certified according to the Living Building Challenge – even the iconic 110-year-old steamship is working out how to decarbonise.

Another project has seen a funding platform established called Love Queenstown (or Love Wānaka), enabling visitors and businesses to positively impact Queenstown and Wānaka through their activities and experiences by supporting local climate, conservation, and biodiversity initiatives. The platforms will also connect visitors to tangible projects and enable them to volunteer alongside local environmentalists on initiatives that make a difference.

Written by: Peter Needham in Wellington, New Zealand

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