Pillar Three

Travel to a Thriving Future

Pillar Three

Build economic resilience, capability and productivity

Me whakaahu i kā pakihi manawaroa, kia pai ake te āheitakame te māpua

Ensure resilience in the visitor economy to provide a prosperous future for business owners and staff in a way that is good for local communities and the planet.

Objectives:

Increase the total value of the visitor economy, net of all costs and economic leakage.

Ensure workforce availability and improve workforce retention.

Maintain tourism business satisfaction.

A group of people at a community event

Project 12: Economic Leakage Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis

Gain a detailed understanding of the benefits of tourismthat stay in the community, and the costs associated with the visitor economy. A portion of visitor spending does not stay in the local economy; it leaves the district to offshore companies that own, promote or sell experiences here. This is called economic leakage. In a free-trade environment and global marketplace, some leakage is unavoidable, but there are benefits to ensuring that as much revenue as possible stays and re-circulates in the local economy. The outcome should result in a more holistic understanding of the broader net value of the visitor economy, which includes economic, social, cultural and environmental impacts.

Actions

Inputs and thought starters that will support project delivery
  • Quantify the income from the visitor economy that stays in the community, (i.e., net of leakage) including direct and indirect contributions to tax base.
  • Assess the hidden costs associated with infrastructure, environmental degradation and community quality of life.
  • Quantify the non-financial benefits of tourism to the community, including reputation, the workforce, and economic development.
  • Research initiatives and opportunities for minimising economic leakage and maximising the portion of visitor spending and tourism business profits that are reinvested within the local economy.

Workstreams underway

How the project is being brought to life

Project 13: Direct Funding for Infrastructure

Supporting visitor levy projects, such as the one proposed by QLDC, will ensure that residents and communities do not pay for costs that should be covered by visitors or the visitor economy. One outcome will be that local infrastructure is sufficient to meet the needs of local communities and visitors.

Actions

Inputs and thought starters that will support project delivery
  • Support existing work to establish an effective local visitor levy. Advocate for the levy to be aligned with the guiding principles of this plan, where the funds are protected to ensure that infrastructure and resources for visitors do not impose unfair costs on communities.

Workstreams underway

How the project is progressed

Project 14: Love Wānaka / Love Queenstown

This project completes the work already begun to create local community funds that will provide opportunities to receive and hold funds that support environmental and community goals. It may also support projects that visitors can get involved with and provide an option for visitors to give back financially.

Actions

Inputs and thought starters that will support project delivery
  • Establish a community fund that targets visitor give-back and financial contributions to support social and environmental outcomes.
  • Develop platforms that enable visitor give-back programmes

Workstreams underway

How the project is being brought to life

Project 15: Product Evolution Programme

Develop and evolve the tourism product in line with the vision of this strategy to build the destination brand. Shape demand for products aligned with Travel to a Thriving Future.

Actions

Inputs and thought starters that will support project delivery
  • Measure the quality of the destination experience according to visitor sentiment.
  • Develop destination-wide experience(s).
  • Promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and provide education to ensure that Queenstown Lakes and its tourism experiences welcome people of all kinds. This includes communities which are marginalised, vulnerable, oppressed or underrepresented along lines of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, sexual and gender orientations (LGBTQIA+), or disability.
  • Improve accessibility throughout the district’s visitor experiences, including its tourism facilities, products and services, to accommodate visitors and residents of varying abilities.
  • Aid businesses to make their experiences more competitive (and subsequently higher-yield)

Workstreams underway

How the project is being brought to life

Project 16: Tourism Business Excellence Programme

With thoughtful design, businesses can simultaneously increase yield, reduce pressure on the environment and residents, and improve the visitor experience. To that end, this project will improve capability and resilience in regenerative tourism practices by working alongside existing initiatives in business learning and development. The outcome of the programme should be improved productivity, resulting in higher economic margin per visitor and environmental, social and community benefits.

Actions

Inputs and thought starters that will support project delivery
  • Ensure a common understanding of what Travel to a Thriving Future means among visitor economy stakeholders.
  • Work with local organisations to provide mentoring, training, information, resources and other useful ongoing support for tourism business owners, managers and employees.
  • Support tourism businesses, their guides and staff to build their knowledge and understanding of local cultural heritage.
  • Support existing and new local Māori tourism businesses.
  • Establish an effective business collaboration and peer-learning forum to explore and address issues that can improve business productivity and resilience, increasing profitability per FTE.
  • Help owners design business models that increase yield and where a higher volume of visitors and experiences is not necessary to be successful. Enable them to compete on quality and unique, rich experiences rather than on price.
  • Share learning and case studies of businesses that are leading the way towards a regenerative future to provide practical examples for others to follow.
  • Encourage and support successful, sustainable local tourism businesses to enter relevant national and international business awards that recognise excellence in regenerative business practices.
  • Support existing local business awards programmes to create new award categories celebrating excellence in sustainable and regenerative business practices.
  • Support and recognise certification.
  • Collaborate with the innovation and economic development project team to support a tourism technology cluster and other diversification opportunities that are adjacent to tourism.

Workstreams underway

How the project is progressed

Project 17: Thriving Workforce Programme

Finding and retaining skilled employees is an ongoing challenge for visitor and tourism businesses. Attracting talented people and investing in their capabilities and careers will support a regenerative visitor economy while also creating more opportunities for locals within tourism and hospitality. Affordable housing and living wages will be needed to retain talent.

Actions

Inputs and thought starters that will support project delivery
  • Support tourism business owners to attract and retain experienced and appropriately skilled staff.
  • Work with existing local initiatives and organisations to develop a range of programmes that build the capabilities of the tourism workforce.
  • Work with relevant partners to understand how to support improved career opportunities in tourism, and support local initiatives that promote tourism as an attractive career path.
  • Establish a mechanism for understanding the cost of living in the district, average wage levels in different segments of the visitor economy, and the implications of establishing a recommended local living wage.
  • Support and strengthen local housing initiatives and organisations, advocating for affordable housing and making more of the housing supply available to tourism workers.
  • Determine the levers of change to manage the number and distribution of short-term accommodations. These may include advocating for regulation.

Workstreams underway

How the project is progressed

Project 18: Emergency and Climate Adaptation Preparedness

Ensure the tourism system is prepared for potential economic shocks brought on by emergencies and a changing environment.

Actions

Inputs and thought starters that will support project delivery
  • Develop plans to build local businesses resilience in order to adapt to climate change and more frequent extreme weather events.
  • Ensure tourism operators are prepared and understand their responsibilities so that they can keep visitors safe during emergencies.
  • Ensure that visitor support is integral to all aspects of the district’s emergency management planning and that businesses understand existing Emergency Management Plans.
  • Ensure that a recovery approach is in place that fully understands the needs of the visitor economy after an emergency.

Workstreams underway

How the project is progressed

Project 19: Innovation and Economic Development

Adopting technological innovations will allow the district to diversify the economy while decarbonising tourism. The likelihood of achieving the goals of this plan will be improved by innovation, which in turn presents an opportunity for economic development. Aligning economic development and tourism planning around the regenerative values of the community presents an exciting opportunity for focused place branding. The range of innovation opportunities includes enhancing visitor experiences, measuring the impact of tourism, changing visitor behaviour, and supporting tourism and visitor businesses to be more financially productive. Many of these simply require enabling businesses to adopt existing technology. However, innovation is required to support clean aviation, energy efficiency, renewable energy, carbonremoval, regenerative agriculture, mineralisation, ecosystem restoration – which will also be necessary to decarbonise the district. This project team will support QLDC and related economic development activities. By aligning tourism and wider economic development, Queenstown Lakes can become known as a leader for regenerative tourism, green transportation innovation, and environmental solutions. The district can develop a reputation as first-customer, and the place to see regenerative tourism in action. This combination can serve as inspiration and have a positive influence on other communities around the world.

Actions

Inputs and thought starters that will support project delivery
  • To improve business capabilities, support a tourism technology cluster to explore and develop ideas that can leverage technology and celebrate business achievement
  • Collaborate throughout the district to test and encourage adoption of new technologies.
  • To support economic diversification (through supporting decarbonisation innovation, technology that can change impacts on environment and visitor behaviour).
  • Build a reputation as an innovative, early adopter in areas aligned with green tourism innovation, clean transportation, etc.
  • Use leadership in the area of regenerative tourism to attract aligned businesses to Queenstown Lakes.
  • Collaborate with local research and innovation organisations to explore, develop and promote new, cost-effective solutions that radically improve environmental performance.

Workstreams underway

How the project is progressed

The Journey So Far

See how the journey toward regenerative tourism is unfolding. Browse the stories below to explore our progress.

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