Mr Anderson’s comments came at the sold-out Queenstown Business Chamber of Commerce business lunch at Skyline Queenstown last week, during the first day of the inaugural Snow Fest, organised by NZSki in conjunction with the area’s tourism and hospitality businesses.
The two-day event ran on Friday and Saturday, coinciding with Coronet Peak ski area’s soft opening for snow play, when more than 100 people started their day with a ‘‘polar plunge’’ into Lake Wakatipu.
Thousands turned out to watch the downtown ‘‘Rail Jam’’, in the Stanley St carpark on Friday night, which attracted a capacity field of athletes, including Australian slopestyle Olympian Mela Stalker and Freeride World Tour athlete Fynn Powell.
During a discussion with RealNZ chief executive Dave Beeche at Friday’s business lunch, Mr Anderson told emcee Dominic Bowden the community needed to work together to send a clear message to the government ‘‘that we have got to fix the infrastructure in this town’’.
‘‘Otherwise, we are going to grind to a halt.
‘‘We just need those funding streams and we also need them [the government] to open up some of the regulatory constraints.’’
While he accepted operators would ‘‘hate’’ a bed tax, it was common practice all over the world and was ‘‘the least worst option’’ for the area to be able to fund the much-needed fixes.
Mr Anderson said his comments were not ‘‘a political broadcast’’ and the message had to be received by ‘‘both sides’’ in government.
‘‘There’s no more votes to be had here, whether you’re Labour or National, because it’s a safe, blue seat.
‘‘We’re an opportunity and they’ve got bigger problems to solve in the North Island, so we’ve got to work out how to do this ourselves.’’
Snow Fest finished on Saturday following a family fun day at Coronet Peak, which included a snow dig for prizes, a suitcase race on snow and an apres party at Altitude brewery.
Designed, in part, to fill the void left by the long-running Queenstown Winter Festival, which became an international marketing tool worth millions to the economy.
Formerly held over four days, Destination Queenstown last staged the festival in 2019.
Mr Anderson said the fledgling Snow Fest was not an ‘‘NZSki festival’’.
‘‘This is actually Queenstown’s festival.
‘‘The idea is that in the future more businesses will become part of this [and] collaborate on this thing that brings this town together, gives locals an excuse to come into town and enjoy what’s on offer.
‘‘Let’s get this thing going.’’
