Locations commercial leasing specialist Marty Barwood said he was "exceptionally busy" with inquiries from the garden city. Operators were "dipping their toe in the water" by looking for one- or two-year tenancies.
Mr Barwood said online inquiries spiked a week after the February 22 earthquake and originally leaned towards interest in office space. Now phone calls and site visits were becoming frequent, he said.
"At the moment, a lot of them are more service industries that are moving out of Christchurch. People involved with events, I can't go into specifics, but they are coming down here because they see that Christchurch isn't going to get the same number of people going through the town.
"Because they come down to Queenstown, they've been thinking about it for years; they've made the decision to pull the pin on Christchurch because of what's happening.
"Whether they go back in the future remains to be seen."
Mr Barwood said he had three parties from the city visit Wakatipu properties on the weekend of March 19 and 20. On the following Monday, four Christchurch parties made offers on properties.
He had a further two offers on two separate properties being considered.
"Some of those industrials that have been sitting around for a while, they will be taken up - there's so much inquiry. The ones which are really popular are the ones with accommodation upstairs.
Colliers International noticed an upswing in mainly retail and some office space leasing inquiries through its website, database and walk-ins from Christchurch operators over the past two weeks.
Canterbury parents followed the estimated 200 children who re-enrolled in Wakatipu schools after the earthquake and entrepreneurs among them looked at opportunities while here.
"I think a lot of businesses that are damaged or in the cordoned [area] are now at the point where they're starting to assess what is the plan B if we're not going to be in Christchurch in the next year or few years," leasing broker Mary-Jo Hudson said.
"It's a big call for a large business to relocate from Christchurch, where they've been established for a long time, so a lot of the inquiries we've got have been from smaller business, where that decision is a bit more straightforward and you're not dealing with 20 staff and their lifestyle with it."
When asked what the attraction would be for a Christchurch business operator to re-establish in the Wakatipu instead of elsewhere in the South Island, Ms Hudson said many operators were drawn by Queenstown's buoyancy throughout the year and the tourism as well as local population markets.
"Particularly with retail, when they look at a place they look at who else is here. There are major retailers and brands here and some of them might only be in Christchurch and Queenstown, or Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown, and that's as much of the South Island as they cover.
"So, if they are only in Christchurch, often they look to Queenstown versus other South Island cities that are bigger because of that tourism base."
