A groundbreaking tourism research project to understand optimal visitation in the Queenstown Lakes region is currently underway. The research aims to develop a comprehensive model to guide and define variables concerning the social, cultural, environmental, and economic limits of visitor numbers.
About
The project’s goal is to ensure future tourism planning is resilient and robust, fostering a thriving community, environment, and industry. Tourism remains the backbone of the Queenstown Lakes economy and contributes significantly to regional GDP as well as recreational infrastructure, experiences and diversity. The project aims to ensure tourism is planned for in the future, in a resilient and robust manner, to ensure a thriving community, environment and industry.
A team of researchers, led by globally recognised experts Professor Susanne Becken, Professor James Higham and Professor Oz Sahin from Griffith University, supported by FreshInfo’s Shane Vuletich, will lead the world first project - one of the key outputs of the Queenstown Lakes’ destination management plan. The project will seek to create an optimal visitation model that will enable effective scenario planning and informed decision-making within the district.
Whilst the model is being developed specifically for the Queenstown Lakes district, the ambition is to produce a prototype that can ultimately be shared with other destinations across New Zealand, and around the world, to support regenerative tourism ambition.
Progress
The Optimal Visitation Project team visited the Queenstown Lakes District in September 2024, successfully conducting workshops in Queenstown and Wānaka with diverse stakeholder participation. These workshops aimed to identify and discuss tourism variables impacting the community and environment, exploring their interconnectedness and determining positive or negative relationships. The team also engaged with various QLDC and RTO teams, including Climate and Resilience, Strategic Growth, Water, and Transport, to introduce the project, gather direction on key issues, and assess data availability.
In October, a supplementary online stakeholder workshop was facilitated to maximise accessibility and capture additional feedback. Based on stakeholder input, a draft list of 39 variables was created to input into the model.
Who is involved
Queenstown Lakes District Council has managed the procurement process on behalf of Destination Southern Lakes. In partnership with the district’s regional tourism organisations, Destination Queenstown and Lake Wānaka Tourism, the Council will be part of the steering group overseeing the project.
