Golden Times and a Tissot Watch

When Hilary Finnie left Destination Queenstown over 30 years ago, she was given a Tissot watch as a farewell gift. She’s worn it every day since - a much-loved reminder of an extraordinary first decade with the organisation.

“It was so new, and everything was such an adventure,” Hilary recalls.

She was the first employee of the Queenstown Promotion Bureau (which later became Destination Queenstown), starting work the year before it officially became an incorporated society in 1985. Its first office was an old house on the corner of Stanley and Shotover Streets, provided rent-free by the Council.

“It was very, very basic,” says Hilary. “We had a phone, a fax, a photocopier and a typewriter. David Bradford, our Executive Director, had his own computer, which we could use occasionally – just for some things.”

In those days, there was no email or internet, and Queenstown was still on a manual phone exchange.  

“We did a lot of talking on the phone. I remember giving one of the phone operators a list of maybe 20 or 30 numbers, and they’d just keep connecting me to the next person once I’d finished talking. Any newsletters we sent out had to be photocopied and posted. That was the only way to communicate with businesses across the district.”

There was no funding - explaining why the town needed the Queenstown Promotion Bureau was just the start of the challenge.

“It took us a couple of years to really understand what the ‘tourism dollar’ meant to Queenstown. It was a matter of counting up all the businesses; working out how many people were employed in tourism; how people that weren't employed directly in tourism were affected by tourism, and what our role should be,” says Hilary.

Raising funds quickly became a priority – including finding the money to pay Hilary’s own salary.

“Initially it was like no, no, no. I just want people to come to my motel or shop in my shop or eat at my restaurant, and why should I spend money promoting everyone else? Changing that mindset was quite a mission!”

With limited subscriptions, the QPB got creative – running bonfire nights, barbecues and even the Percy Perch Fishing Competition on Lake Hayes. “People paid to enter, and sponsors donated some big prizes. It was quite a significant fundraiser and helped get rid of a lot of perch that weren't good for the lake!” laughs Finnie.

Meanwhile, Executive Director David Bradford worked with some of the business leaders to convince Mayor John Davies and his council to introduce the ground-breaking funding structure that’s still in place today.

“It made an absolute massive difference. Once we had the rates-based funding, we had a budget that we could work to, we could plan, we could promote and we could really market Queenstown. It was a total game changer.”

As New Zealand’s tourism industry took off, other regions began setting up their own regional tourism organisations. “So we had to do it better and more efficiently, to make sure Queenstown maintained its position as the tourism capital of New Zealand,” says Hilary. “A few of the tourism pioneers, Mike Ross, Geoff Johnson, and Carl Braddock then spent countless hours, all voluntary of course, writing our first strategic marketing plan, which became the guideline for all the other RTO’s.”

One of their biggest wins came in 1985, when QPB successfully applied for a shop trading hours exemption, allowing Queenstown to open on Sundays and public holidays - a first for New Zealand.

“That took a lot of work! Five years later, we had to fight to keep it, going door-to-door to every retailer in the entire district to sign a petition. We had to have a rehearing, and many retailers came to support that. I’ll never forget the commissioner asking Phil Wilson (who owned Jack's Hardware in those days) if he would ever want to open at midnight. And Phil said, “I've been thinking a long time I would love to have a midnight sale”. And so when the exemption came through, one of the first things Phil did was advertise this midnight sale. I don't think he got a single customer!” she laughs.

The Winter Marketing Group was another highlight – a cooperative of winter businesses set up to tackle the fact that 75 percent of Australian winter visitors flew into Christchurch and headed for  Methven and Mt Hutt.

“The Winter Marketing Group produced their own winter brochures and went to all the ski shows as part of QPB. Suddenly we were out there in the world – going to trade shows, and talking to wholesalers, inbound operators and travel agents,” says Hilary.

By the late 1980s, the QPB was able to convince the Government’s Tourist Department to let it host visiting international media – a first for an RTO.

“We could then share our area with the visiting media in the way we wanted it shared, as opposed to a guide that came from Wellington or Auckland, and so that was a major for us. We actually won the very first regional Tourism Organization award at the New Zealand tourism awards for our innovation.”

Hosting celebrities like American broadcaster Walter Cronkite and actor Brooke Shields were also part of the job - even back then. Hilary remembers going to the airport to greet British writer Simon Winchester (now international best-selling author) in her husband’s old work van, filled with electrical tools.

“QPB didn’t have any vehicles and for some reason, my husband was using my car, so I told Simon Winchester I’d find him a taxi. But he said, How did you get here? I’ll come with you! So I had to clear down the spare front seat to put this very famous author into my husband's very old van!”

An important part of Hilary’s job was also about looking after the locals. In 1985 the QPB started the Arrowtown Autumn Festival and soon took over running the Queenstown Winter Festival, turning it into a national icon.

“The first sponsorship was from Dominion Breweries (DB) and once again, funding made a difference and that changed the face of the Winter Festival quite significantly.”

Looking back, Hilary is satisfied that the QPB made a big difference to Queenstown’s visitor numbers - but she’s even prouder of the people behind it all.

“The biggest change that QPB was the catalyst for was the cooperation between businesses. Initially, they were all competing, arguing and almost enemies. But within ten years, that had all changed. Everyone realised the value of cooperation in promotions and marketing. Tourism is all about people, and when I look back, it’s the people that made it so special and so memorable.”

And thirty years on, Hilary’s Tissot watch still keeps perfect time.