The campaign was launched yesterday and aims to foster economic diversification in the Queenstown Lakes district.
The campaign, "Home for Healthier Business", is a six-month pilot funded with a $75,000 grant from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
the perception of the region
as simply a place to come on holiday, council economic development manager Peter Harris said in a statement.
The goal was to attract people who could build teams in ‘‘low-carbon, non-extractive industries and regenerative initiatives’’, Mr Harris said.
Speaking at a media briefing in Queenstown yesterday, council economic development unit adviser Sharon Fifield said tourism dominated the district’s economy, six out of 10 residents working in the industry.
‘‘Covid was a harsh wake-up call — everything we were working on suddenly became quite urgent,’’ Ms Fifield said.
The council recognised the challenges in setting up a business in the district, such as its relatively small economy, long distance from markets and high cost of land and housing.
The campaign would be successful if it prompted 10 to 15 people to begin the process of relocating their homes and businesses here, she said.
A key part of the campaign was a website promoting the district’s lifestyle and entrepreneurial spirit to businesspeople, who might then relocate there and employ residents, she said.
Mr Harris said the website provided the ‘‘resources, tools and networks’’ businesspeople needed to establish their families and businesses in the district.
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Comments
This is the equivalent of lecturing birds on how to fly.
The idea that these people (with no skin in the game) are going to 'create diversification', by holding a few conferences and sprinkling some money about.... Preposterous with a capital P.