Mr Everitt, who joined DQ at the beginning of 2010, arrived to find "a little bubble of optimism".
The previous two years had been difficult. Long-serving chief executive David Kennedy left the role in 2008 and his replacement, Stephen Pahl, left in September 2009, eight months after being appointed.
The company responsible for marketing Queenstown to international markets had also battled through the recession.
But hopes were high "we were coming out of it" in 2010, Mr Everitt said.
"We were excited ... then we got slapped around the face and nature reminded us who was in charge."
In 2010 there were "early signs" of the end of the global financial crisis and international markets were recovering.
"We thought we'd seen some stars lining up.
"It was all so easy. That was the mood, that was the environment," Mr Everitt said.
Then came February 22, 2011. At 12.51pm the earth shook.
Christchurch would never be the same again - and the impact on New Zealand's tourism markets was immediate.
"We had activated our crisis management plan by 2pm on February 22, within 60 minutes.
"We had a team meeting out here [in the reception area of DQ] and I said 'this is going to change the face of tourism in the South Island as we have known it'.
"And it has."
Mr Everitt is no stranger to nature's impact on tourism. He was in Singapore when the Indian Ocean tsunami hit in 2005, still there when Sars hit and running South Pacific Tourism when the Samoan tsunami hit in October 2009.
While it wasn't easy - particularly in the days immediately following February 22 - "I can see a light definitely approaching us, quite quickly, at the end of the tunnel.""I'm quite excited now ...
Obviously, we've got to focus on the here and now ... but let's try and project ourselves into the future, throw our anchors out there and pull ourselves towards it as fast as we can."
Mr Everitt is determined in four years to have ticked off every one of his goals.
At the top of the list is a $1 billion annual visitor spend in Queenstown by 2015.
The latest expenditure figures are from 2009 and show spending of $874 million in Queenstown.
It was expected an increase in visitor nights for 2010 would have had a positive impact. So far, in 2011, the effect had been the opposite, Mr Everitt said.
Along with the Christchurch earthquake, the Chilean volcanic ash cloud also had an effect on visitors to Queenstown but, ever the optimist, Mr Everitt is confident there will be an "improved second half" of 2011.
"The fundamental thing that hasn't changed is Queenstown's tourism brand is robust and, internationally, it's in better shape than it's ever been."
Another key vision for Mr Everitt was an increased effort in ecological sustainability in Queenstown tourism.
"It's a really important value for our visitors and it will only become increasingly more important."
Diversification in tourism and finding new opportunities would also become important.
Rounding out the vision were two other major focuses - the Conference and Incentive (C&I) market and events.
For either of those to be firmly footed in Queenstown, a conference centre would be "imperative".
"DQ will be pleased and happy to contribute to a community discussion about how we get there [with a conference centre]," he said.
"So many people when I first came here ... said 'you've got a hard job'.
"The fact is, we have 800-plus members of DQ, that's a strength ... I have worked in tourism all over the world for 20 years ... this is as good as it gets."
