The town sits strategically on the 312km Mt Cook to Oamaru trail at the head of the last 55km leg to Oamaru.
But the Duntroon District Development Association, which has created attractions in the town, found people would not stay without some key facilities.
To discuss solutions, it has called a public meeting in the Duntroon Hall at 7.30pm on Thursday, open to anyone with ideas about to resolve the situation.
Association secretary Mike Gray said the township had ''heaps of attractions'' and visitors had been amazed when they were shown around.
''But we are missing the key facilities - accommodation and a store,'' he said.
There was a small amount of accommodation and some more was being developed, but no general store.
''I don't have a solution,'' he conceded, but said, ''that's the aim of the meeting - to show what assets the area has and brainstorm ideas.''
Over recent years, the focus had been on preserving valuable local heritage and striving to promote and share it with locals and visitors.
But it was ''really sad'' to see riders on the cycle trail being bused in to Oamaru for the night and transported back the next day to complete their journey.
''Such issues are beyond the means of our local association to solve,'' association president Owen King said.
The public meeting was to see what ideas there were and who might be able to help meet some of the challenges, he said.
Anyone who had a ''can-do'' attitude and who was interested in seeing Duntroon thrive was welcome.
The Waitaki District Council and Tourism Waitaki would be represented. Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said he thought there were several initiatives the council and association could work on together on for the benefit of the Waitaki Valley community and beyond.
The meeting also had the support of Tourism Waitaki general manager Jason Gaskill, who said the growth of tourism and service operators, particularly accommodation providers, would provide much-needed infrastructure to both cater for the growing cyclist numbers along the trail, and establish Duntroon and the surrounds as a unique destination.
