How Queenstown’s regenerative tourism movement began and why this matters

Queenstown has long been home to adventurers – from early Māori venturing inland to find greenstone to European settlers who arrived seeking gold or land to farm, it’s in the DNA of our people and place. In the 1950s, Queenstown became a pioneer in adventure tourism and visitors have been drawn to the spectacular alpine landscapes ever since. Tourism gradually grew to become the driving force for the region’s economy.

Prior to COVID-19, the Queenstown-Lakes region saw a tourism boom. Visitor expenditure grew rapidly, almost tripling in a decade from $1.3B in 2009 to $3.1B in 2019*, and the region hosted an estimated 3 million visitors annually. There was much to celebrate, but the boom in visitors also created challenges for the community and the environment. Local sentiment towards tourism began to shift. Mat Woods, CEO of Destination Queenstown, explains, “There was real pressure on the system. Locals were telling us; it feels too busy, there’s more congestion, and tourism is impacting the natural environment.”

Then COVID came along, and New Zealand entered lockdown. When you’re a community of 35,000 people welcoming up to 20,000 visitors a day, 70% of whom are international, closing the borders has a dramatic impact. The gap in business as usual gave Queenstown the chance to pause and reflect on what a better future could look like.  

Mat says, “People realised the benefits of tourism. Things like our incredible restaurants, our four international ski fields, and the people we get to meet from all around the world. The question became, how does the local community benefit from visitors and what can tourism do for good? How can tourism give back more to this community than it takes?”

Collaboration with community on a vision for our future

The Queenstown and Wānaka regional tourism organisations came together with Queenstown Lakes District Council, Kāi Tahu (the principal Māori iwi of the South Island), and the Department of Conservation to discuss the future of tourism for the region in collaboration with the local community. Workshops took place over two years, with eight design forums and seven community events held throughout the district, along with many one-on-one interviews and an industry forum.

Mat recalls, “We asked locals, why did you come here, what do you treasure about this place, and what would you like it to look like for future generations?”

From dedicated resident research conducted about their views on tourism*, local residents expressed five key ambitions:

• Improve infrastructure
• Encourage visitors to travel outside peak season
• Reduce the impact of tourism on the local environment.
• Encourage visitors to adopt more sustainable practices.
• Reduce the carbon emissions from tourism.

Mat adds, “Through those community conversations we also learned about the wonderful things people were doing. Becoming a regenerative destination isn’t a new idea, and it isn’t something we came up with as destination marketers. The community was already taking regenerative action. The question was, how do we amplify that and take it forward.”

It became clear that being sustainable and sustaining Queenstown wouldn’t be good enough. We would need to regenerate and make this place better than it is. The community were clear that a plan wouldn’t be truly regenerative without tackling ambitious goals such as lowering Scope 3 emissions, targeting zero waste, and alleviating visitor pressure on the ecosystem.

Queenstown’s definition of regeneration is more holistic, focused on the whole community and how we live together to ensure people and place thrive. We wanted to build a regenerative tourism plan where instead of simply seeing visitors as an economic benefit for the district, we'd consider their impact on the environment and community as well.

The current situation in Queenstown highlights the need for reimagining the long-term form tourism takes in the region. Visitor numbers are already back to pre-COVID levels and further growth in demand is expected.

Queenstown’s keystone regenerative tourism goal: carbon zero by 2030

Tourism is the foundation of the Queenstown Lakes economy, accounting for 39% of GDP and 52% of all employment in 2020***. So, if we want to become a regenerative destination, we need to change the way we do tourism.

When we put the draft plan out to the community for consultation, 1,600 people visited the website to read the plan, over 600 downloaded it and many submitted feedback. A clear theme emerged. If we truly wanted to be regenerative, we had to decarbonise.

The need to decarbonise is urgent. Last year, New Zealand saw massive impacts from climate change. Floods shut down the city of Auckland. Two weeks later, Cyclone Gabrielle devastated the east coast of the North Island. Here in Queenstown, climate change is impacting our seasons which makes the weather less predictable for activities and experiences.

Queenstown considered various decarbonisation goals. Mat says, “We could aim for carbon neutral, net zero, or carbon zero. Carbon neutral is lazy. It’s just buying offsets. That doesn't involve any behaviour change or innovation, so that was off the table. We purposely went with the hardest thing.

"We’ve committed to carbon zero, eliminating fossil fuels and cutting carbon emissions so Queenstown has zero emissions by 2030. When we achieve this, we will be the first carbon-zero tourism destination in the world.”

“Queenstown’s aim to be carbon zero by 2030 has caught the imagination of this community. Even though the decarbonisation plan is only one of 23 different projects from the region’s destination management plan, it has galvanised people to look at the whole regenerative tourism plan. It’s become the keystone project, a North Star everyone can rally around.”

Trent Yeo, founder of Ziptrek Ecotours, Queenstown’s first zero carbon tour operator, agrees, “I've been a sustainability advocate for a very long time and a lone voice for most of that time. So, when I heard about carbon zero 2030, I was shocked because it’s the sort of thing I would say. It's audacious. There's no question in my mind this is absolutely what we should be aiming for. It's totally galvanised Queenstown. The leaders of our community are rallying together. This isn't a strategy for a single entity. This is a movement.”

Why is Queenstown leading this movement?

When Queenstown becomes the first carbon zero visitor destination, we’ll be joining a long tradition of local firsts. We’re the birthplace of commercial bungy. Tandem skydiving and paragliding were pioneered here. The first commercial jetboat rides in the world were here on the Kawarau River. Queenstown is the birthplace of whitewater rafting, river surfing and New Zealand’s first commercial ski resort. We’re not afraid to give new things a go.

Taking up this challenge also comes back to the nature of the people who call Queenstown home. This place is beautiful, but it’s also extreme. It has always attracted ambitious, adventurous people. Not only are the people who live here resilient and innovative, they have a strong love of place and a desire to look after the environment and community for future generations.

We all have a responsibility to be good ancestors. Our commitment to regeneration will help create the foundations for a thriving future for our community long after we’re gone. We’re going to share our learnings and progress to inspire other destinations nationally and globally to join us on this journey.

Travelling to a Thriving Future – a vision and a plan

Our vision is for tourism in the Queenstown Lakes to be regenerative and resilient, delivering benefits environmentally, socially, culturally and economically, enriching the lives of the people who live here and the people who visit.

Queenstown’s 2030 regenerative tourism plan is built on three pillars. Mat explains, “The first pillar is around enriching our community. We’ll be telling more authentic stories of people and place, from the first Māori who came to Tāhuna for food gathering and in search of Pounamu, to early European pioneers in search of gold and the first tourism operators. It also includes investing in our arts, culture, and heritage, and focusing on creating a visitor experience anchored in the values of our place.”

“The second pillar is around the environment and protecting this place for future generations. That includes understanding our emissions and environmental footprint, our keystone decarbonisation plan and things like waste management.”

“Then the third pillar is around business resilience. We can't do any of this if we don't have strong, profitable businesses. So we’re investing in our businesses and our workforce. Profit isn't a dirty word. Greed is.”

Being a regenerative destination comes back to living systems. It’s bigger than tourism. It’s about the whole place. That’s why our goal is for tourism to become a force for good, delivering benefits to the environment, community, and business, enriching all our lives.

How is Queenstown tracking with making change?

Since the regenerative tourism plan was endorsed by Queenstown Lakes District Councillors in early 2023 we've released a discussion paper on our roadmap to decarbonisation and started to implement many of the 23 projects in the plan, including launching community fund, Love Queenstown and launching a member capability program that aims to support tourism operators to grow capacity around regenerative tourism at the grass roots . We’re also working on a project to understand what optimal visitation to the region looks like to help us understand the environmental and economic impact visitors have and what infrastructure we need to support a thriving community and environment.

Pre-COVID, Queenstown’s destination marketing was focused on driving volume. Now we focus on attracting ‘high contributing’ visitors, and this doesn’t mean wealthy people. High contributing visitors stay longer, explore further, forge connections with locals, and give back. It’s about taking the time to become a temporary local, and really know and appreciate people and place.

We’re not perfect. Becoming a regenerative destination is a journey. We’re not going to get there overnight, and we’re not going to shy away from saying we don’t have all the answers. We’re not afraid to try things, get them wrong, and talk about that. Sharing our learnings is a key philosophical approach, there is no point Queenstown doing this alone, we want other places to join us in a regenerative future.

Meet some local businesses changing tourism for good

This movement for change has come from the grassroots of the Queenstown community. Local people and businesses were already taking regenerative actions. The new destination management plan has simply helped create more momentum.

Sherwood’s Kitchen Gardens

Named one of the world’s most sustainable hotels by Expedia, Sherwood repurposed a 1980s motor lodge into an eco-chic retreat with kitchen gardens, bee hives, and delicious garden-to-table food. Head chef Chris Scott says, “The garden writes the menu. The produce only lasts for a certain period and then it’s gone for another year.” All Sherwood’s food waste goes into compost, which goes full circle back to their garden.

Other restaurants with abundant kitchen gardens are Millbrook, Walter Peak, Headwaters, Amisfield, Gibbston Valley, and the Hilton. These restaurants give visitors a unique taste of this region. They also don’t generate as much carbon bringing fruit and veggies into the district.

Shotover Jet's Electric Jet Boat Prototype

Iwi-owned adventure, Shotover Jet are trialling their first electric jet boat. Ngāi Tahu's statement of purpose is, 'mō tātau, ā, mo kā uri a muri ake nei', which translates to, 'for us and our children after us'. 

Innovations such as decarbonising jetboating offer opportunities for economic diversification. Many New Zealand manufacturers are involved in this project and there’s a global jetboat industry out there. So when we talk about regenerative tourism innovation, there’s a greater economic benefit than for our visitor economy alone.

NZSki Commit to Reducing Emissions 50% in a Single Season

NZSki operates two Queenstown ski fields, Coronet Peak and the Remarkables. They’re committed to being carbon neutral by 2030, but they’re not leaving it to the last minute. In June 2023, they announced they were reducing emissions by 50% that year.

Climate change is already impacting the local ski industry. CEO of NZSki Paul Anderson says, “The simple truth is reducing our carbon footprint and becoming a more sustainable business is not someone else’s job. We are doing all we can to minimise our emissions through carbon reduction initiatives across all parts of our operations. For us to operate for decades to come, we have to lead the way.”

RealNZ Decarbonise a 112-year-old Coal Steamship

Tourism experience business RealNZ are working on decarbonising one of Queenstown’s best-loved adventures, historic steamship the TSS Earnslaw. With so much heritage, RealNZ are keen to preserve her as an authentic steamship and fuel her boilers without using coal. They also honoured her 110th birthday by planting a native tree for every passenger she carried that year, another 3,200 trees.

Because RealNZ take visitors into some of the world’s most remote wilderness areas, they’re passionate about preserving them for the future. In early 2022 they appointed New Zealand tourism’s first Chief Conservation Officer, leading a dedicated sustainability team.

The Headwaters Eco Lodge helps People Connect with the Land and Themselves

The Headwaters Eco Lodge founder Debbi Brainerd says, “When we wake up every day, we always think, what small thing can we do? Sometimes those little things end up being bigger than we ever imagined. We never imagined we'd build a net positive energy lodge.”

The Headwaters Eco Lodge is a Living Building, the first, and only, accommodation destination to be accredited globally. What’s more, the lodge, local campground, and general store were gifted to the people of Glenorchy by Debbi and her husband Paul.

The Headwater’s focus is on slow tourism experiences. Debbi says, “Our happiest guests are the ones who stay the longest because our world can really take its toll, and nature is where we connect back to ourselves. There's an energy here in Glenorchy that's quite beautiful. And when you’ve time away on the land in a space where you can re-connect to yourself, you end up making better decisions about everything.”

How you can get on board and change tourism for good

We need passionate changemakers to help accelerate the work we’ve set ourselves. Come and visit, see what we're doing, stay longer, explore deeply, support our local movement, give back and share your knowledge with us. We have a lot to do to achieve our zero carbon goal by 2030.

Travel can be transformative. So, we hope when you come to Queenstown, you’ll learn regenerative practices and take new ideas home. Regenerating our planet is bigger than Queenstown, we’re all in this together, and we can't do this without you.

Sources:

• * MBIE monthly regional tourism estimates year ending October 2009
• ** DQ and LWT Views on Tourism Research (Angus & Associates) Wave 3 (October 2023 - March 2024). N =  3220 NZ, N = 525 Queenstown Lakes.
• *** Infometrics 2020