The Department of Conservation's Queenstown Visitor Centre is moving to Stanley St.
Doc director-general Lou Sanson announced the move during a visit to the resort yesterday.
The visitor centre opened in the Outside Sports building on Shotover St in 2008.
Doc Wakatipu area manager Greg Lind said while the first-floor site had worked well, particularly with Outside Sports' clientele, ''the ground floor is where it's at''.
The new centre would be housed in a building owned by former mayor Warren Cooper, previously occupied by Bayleys real estate, under a 16-year lease.
The $360,000 fit-out was being designed in conjunction with a national team which was also working on new centres at Franz Josef, Christchurch and Arthurs Pass.
The new site would house a ''pop up'' visitor centre until the building was fully fitted out, probably during the summer.
Mr Sanson said Queenstown was Doc's ''premier tourism market'' and the visitor centre needed a higher visibility.
He said Doc connected with about 80,000 visitors in Queenstown annually.
Once the new building opened it was expected the figure would increase to more than 100,000 a year.
Queenstown was either the ''first stop'' or ''must do'' for many visitors to New Zealand as well as a holiday destination for New Zealanders.
''Public conservation land is where people enjoy the outdoor recreation and adventure activities that make Queenstown popular.
"Many of the district's tourism businesses operate on conservation land.
''The contribution of this Doc visitor centre in connecting people with our special natural places cannot be underestimated.''
The new centre would continue to provide information on well-known places such as the Routeburn Track, Mt Aspiring National Park and the Remarkables, as well as details of lesser known walks, bike tracks, camping grounds, huts and hunting areas.
It would also provide information about the Milford Track, Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound, Stewart Island, Mt Cook, the West Coast Glaciers, weather and track conditions and educational information and sell hut tickets.
The new centre is due to open at the end of November.
Mr Sanson said this year the department was predicting its busiest season yet, in part due to the strong New Zealand dollar along with increased visitors from the United States and China.
''Numbers were up 5% to 10% last year and we're expecting the same again this year based on forward bookings of great walks.''
Statistics New Zealand's monthly report on international visitor arrivals showed in the year ended August 2014, annual visitor arrivals increased by 5.3% to 2,799,529.
The report showed Queenstown Airport welcomed 155,792 visitors an increase of 28.6% on the year ended August 2013.
During August 2014 the resort was the entry port for 22,784 visitors, up 18.9% on the same month last year.
