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Gillian Macleod
Are there no cultural, heritage and educational
attractions for tourists to visit in Queenstown, or are the
existing sights not promoted enough?
The poser was raised by councillors at the Queenstown Lakes
District Council strategy committee meeting yesterday.
A tabled tourism monitoring report said Queenstown's tourists
were more likely to participate in a wide range of activities
and attract-ions than their peers in the other monitored
regions of Dunedin, Christchurch and Canterbury, Wellington,
Rotorua and Auckland.
However, participation in the resort's cultural, heritage and
educational activities were the glaring exception.
"Is it because we don't have any?" committee chairwoman
Gillian Macleod asked.
Mrs Macleod said Queenstown did have popular heritage areas,
such as Skippers Canyon, and she described the Lakes District
Museum, in Arrowtown, as "fantastic".
However, there were not many "heritage statements" made by
the council or Destination Queenstown.
Cr Lex Perkins said the council already knew about the
successful ski season and how the Australian market had
offset the drop in long-haul markets over the past year, as
detailed in the report.
He said his big concern was international arrivals were up
slightly, by 0.3%, for the month of November last year, which
was still below November 2007.
Mr Perkins said Queenstown needed a conference centre.
Low occupancy rates in Wanaka, at 31%, compared with
Queenstown's occupancy rate of 50% surprised Wanaka Community
Board member Carrick Jones.
Cr John Mann wanted to know what percentage of Wanaka
visitors used Queenstown as a gateway, which might affect
Wanaka's occupancy.
Policy and planning general manager Philip Pannett said it
would be useful to consult Queenstown Airport, but it would
not have information on free and independent travellers, or
campervans.
Cr John R Wilson called for more research on how to attract
visitors who would give the most back to the community
through spending.
The increasing number of day-trippers, who flew in and out of
Queenstown, needed to be factored into tourism figures, he
said.
The regional visitor monitor reported visitors' expectations
of unique wildlife in Queenstown continued to grow, while
expectations of scenic beauty and adventure and excitement
remained steady.
Wanaka enjoyed the largest percentage increase in guest
nights anywhere in New Zealand over the past year - an 18%
rise in November 2009, compared with the corresponding month
in 2008, and twice more than Queenstown, which decreased by
1.3%.
The average length of stay in Wanaka rose from 1.97 nights to
2.11 nights, but Queenstown's average fell from 2.29 nights
to 2.2 nights, year-on-year.
