One 'schoolies' tour provider in charge of 44 Australian high school graduates arriving in Queenstown this weekend wants the police to get involved to help the week run smoothly.
Schoolies - Australian high school graduates celebrating the end of exams - congregate on the Gold Coast every year for a week-long, 30,000-person party, which regularly makes headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Cutting Edge Adventures Australia, one of three companies bringing an estimated 100 schoolies to Queenstown, said it did not foresee trouble from its participants.
Its "Queenstown Schoolies" trip touches down in Queenstown on Saturday afternoon, bringing a group of teenagers director Tim Jones says are keen to escape the Gold Coast chaos.
"I know there will be kids who want to party in our group ... but overall they want to get away for a week where they can make some amazing memories."
Staying at Base Backpackers, the teens will choose an adventure tourism activity each day of the seven-night stay, with the rest as free time.
Mr Jones hoped his company's schoolies safety briefing on Saturday night would include a brief talk by the police about "what they would expect of young travellers" in the resort.
Other proposed measures included contacting bars and liquor stores and informing them of the impending arrival of the teenagers, some of whom will be underage.
"We are also putting the onus on these guys [bars and liquor stores] as it's just as much responsibility on their part as well as the patrons."
He said roaming guides would also be in town to look out for the schoolies.
However, he said he did not speak for the other operators understood to be offering schoolies trips to Queenstown - I Like To Party and Sure Thing Schoolies - but he doubted they had similar plans in place.
Senior Sergeant John Fookes, of Queenstown, said he had not heard from any of the tour providers, and so could not comment on the issue "until I know the shape of it".
However, he was not unduly concerned based on the information supplied.
"Forty-four people is a drop in the bucket compared to the thousands of people we get through here."
With school finished for the year in Australia, the annual schoolie madness has already begun.
AAP yesterday reported 23 teenagers had been arrested and two were left fighting for their lives in hospital after Tuesday night's Gold Coast celebrations.
A 17-year-old boy and a 18-year-old girl were taken to hospital with serious head injuries after they were reportedly struck at a Main Beach Parade pedestrian crossing.
