More flights for Queenstown
Source: GRANT BRYANT in Queenstown - The Southland Times, Friday 16th July 2010

High-growth, low-cost airline Jetstar has announced extra Australian and domestic flights into Queenstown.

Jetstar CEO Bruce Buchanan said there would be more direct flights from Queenstown to Melbourne and Auckland and a new direct trans-tasman route from the Gold Coast to Queenstown would start in mid-December.

''The flights will represent a 40 per cent growth in our Queenstown market and an additional 70,000 seats, which is a huge slab of growth and a testament to our belief in Queenstown as premium destination,'' he said.

Queenstown-Australia flights to double
Source: Otago Daily Times, Wednesday 26th June 2010, Hamish McNeilly

Air New Zealand will boost transtasman flights to Queenstown later this year, in an effort to promote the town as a summer destination for Australians.
From November, the airline would almost double its capacity to Queenstown compared with the previous year, Air New Zealand deputy chief executive Norm Thompson said.

Addressing delegates at the Tourism Rendezvous New Zealand (Trenz) conference in Auckland yesterday, Mr Thompson singled out the town as showing "positive signs".

"Some routes in particular are showing very positive signs, with Queenstown capacity up 88% over the same time a year ago."

Mr Thompson told the Otago Daily Times there was a perception in the market Queenstown was just a winter destination.

"However, this [increase in flights] is demand-driven."

In an effort to capitalise on greater interest in the resort, flights from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane would increase during the November 2010-March 2011 period, he said.

The airline would work with regional tourism organisation Destination Queenstown to market the town across the Tasman, Mr Thompson said.

"That is part of our commitment with them. We want to put bums on seats; they want to put [more people] in beds."

Destination Queenstown chief executive Tony Everitt said it "wonderful" to be the only destination singled out by the airline at the tourism conference, which was attended by more than 1200 delegates.

The extra flights over the summer period would build on what was expected to be a bumper winter, he said.
Flights

Brisbane-Queenstown
2009: One per week mid-December to end of January.
2010: Two per week from mid-December to end of January, and one per week in February and March.

Melbourne-Queenstown
2009: One per week mid-December to end of March.
2010: Two per week mid-December to end of January and one per week in February and March.

Sydney-Queenstown
2009: Two per week November to end of January and one per week in February and March.
2010: Three per week mid-December to end of January and two trips per week in November, February and March.

Source: Air New Zealand

QUEENSTOWN WINS TOP SPOT IN TRIP ADVISOR'S AWARDS
Source: Experiece Queenstown. Posted on 5 May 2010 http://experiencequeenstown.com/queenstown-wins-top-spot-in-trip-advisor-s-awards/ http://www.tripadvisor.com/TCDestinations-cOutdoor-g1

Queenstown’s standing as the ‘Adventure Capital of the World’ has once again been confirmed – this time by winning the top ranking from one of the world’s most popular travel websites awards.

The resort has been voted No1 ‘Outdoor and Adventure Destination in the World’ by Trip Advisor’s 2010 Travellers’ Choice awards as well as being an impressive 15th overall in the ‘Top 25 Destinations in the World’.

The annual awards recognise inspirational travel spots and honour the most beloved destinations from around the globe.

Destination Queenstown General Manager Marketing Graham Budd says the awards for Queenstown are testament to the quality of the town’s operators and as Trip Advisor puts it the “staggering beauty and heart-pumping thrills” this resort town offers.

“Queenstown should feel very proud of this fantastic international achievement. Trip Advisor’s awards represent the opinions of millions of travellers worldwide,” he says.

“This really is exceptional recognition for the town and reinforces our positioning as the premier four season lake and alpine resort in the Southern Hemisphere.”

Queenstown trumped other international adventure destinations Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and Masai Mara National Park in Kenya to claim the top outdoor and adventure spot.

The Travellers’ Choice awards don’t stop there:

Queenstown is the Europeans fourth favourite Destination in the World
Queenstown is second overall in the Top 10 South Pacific Destinations
Queenstown is second in the Culture and Sightseeing Destinations in the South Pacific
Queenstown is third in the Top 10 Food & Wine Destinations in the South Pacific
Queenstown is third in the Top 10 Nightlife Destinations in the South Pacific

Queenstown, Central defy recession
Source: Simon Hartley, Otago Daily Times, 5th April 2010

The two neighbouring areas have stood up well against the recession, but for differing reasons, Berl chief economist Dr Ganesh Nana, said in a regional and sub-regional report on the province's 2009 economic profile.

"Over the decade since 1999, the Queenstown Lakes District has enjoyed blistering growth in population, GDP [gross domestic product], employment and business numbers," Dr Nana said in the report.

While Queenstown has doubled its employment growth between 1999 and 2009, with a construction and tourism boom, Central Otago relied on its primary sector, with the wine industry and related services being the substantial drivers of its economy, Dr Nana said.

"The Central Otago District, on the whole, weathered out the global economic slowdown well. It experienced strong output, employment and population growth during 2009," he said.

Queenstown provides one-sixth of Otago's regional employment and GDP and has a far greater share of recreation services, retail and distribution sectors, further underpinned by the construction boom in recent years.

Queenstown Chamber of Commerce president Alistair Porter said a major project for the chamber this year was to establish an economic development unit [EDU] in Queenstown, a proposal now backed up by findings in the Berl report, to independently underpin applications for bank funding, following the demise of finance-company funding.

Queenstown's major problem at present is financing development, following problems with developments such as Kawarau Falls, Five Mile and others, which Mr Porter described as "misconceived, even in boom-times".

"Finance company money; mezzanine [high interest] money, is not suited to long-term developments," he said.

While tourism underpins the economy, other services, albeit some related, such as the film industry, education, sport and recreation needed further development, all of which, in turn, should realise future growth would come from places such as China, India and Hong Kong. "We tend to be counter-cyclical here in Queenstown; on recession and what's happening elsewhere around New Zealand," he said.

As local businesses grew, they were struggling to find local financing.

Applications were subsequently referred to head offices elsewhere in the country, and were being declined.

"They're saying `we've already spent millions there' . . . having lent on developments which were beyond [financial] reality in the past'," Mr Porter said of the headline-grabbing exposure, and in some cases failures, associated with Queenstown apartment and hotel developments.

"Key" for the area during the reminder of the 2010 was the potential for Asian tourism growth and establishment of an EDU which would assist rebuilding banks' confidence in the Queenstown area.

An EDU would provide "independent, verifiable data" with applications, Mr Porter said.

Dr Nana noted Queenstown's resident population growth of 5.4% for the decade to 2009 outstripped Otago and New Zealand's respective 1% and 1.2% growth while its business unit growth at 9.7% was more than triple New Zealand's 3% and more than double Otago's 3.7%.

However, Dr Nana said, despite the rapid pace of development, labour productivity gains were on par with national trends and although business numbers were growing, the size of the businesses declined over the decade by 2.4%.

Otago and New Zealand both reflected a decline of less than 1%.

The separate Cental Otago district experienced strong output, employment and population growth in 2009, with employment in direct wine-related industries climbing to almost 6% of the area's employment for 2009.

"Six of the top 10 fastest growing industries in 2009, by employment, were service industries,' Dr Nana said.

Central Otago's output, employment and population growth in 2009 exceeded the overall Otago region and was "defying the national recession", Dr Nana said "The district's population continued to grow faster than the national rate," he said.

Jobs in grape growing were up almost 20% in 2009, about 60 full-time equivalent jobs, plus more than 50 jobs in wine manufacturing.

Hectares planted in grapes had almost tripled during the past eight years, from 534ha in 2002 to 1540ha (forecast) for 2009.

Central Otago's tourism sector outperformed all other areas in New Zealand, apart from occupancy rates, but suffered like the rest of the country with downturns in guest nights and occupancy, Dr Nana said.

It had "above average" GDP and GDP per capita was ahead of the national average.

While productivity dropped by 0.5% for 2009, the number of business units were "strongly" up 1.7% for the year or 3.8% for the decade, Dr Nana said.

QUEENSTOWN SET FOR HIGHEST GROWTH
Source: Grant Bryant, The Southland Times, 24th February 2010

The Queenstown Lakes district is tipped to have the highest growth rate in the country by 2031.

Statistics New Zealand yesterday issued population projections for the country.

Projections for the 25 years from 2006 to 2031 predict national population growth will generally slow down because of the narrowing gap between births and deaths.

But Queenstown looks set to flip that trend by increasing its population by 2.2 per cent per year, boosting the resort's 2006 population of 24,100 to 41,700 in 2031.
The Subnational Population Projections report states that all territorial authority areas will have more older people in the future, and the Queenstown Lakes district's population of people aged over 65 will triple by 2031.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council has done an independent analysis of Queenstown's population growth, which takes in the number of visitors to the resort.

Queenstown Mayor Clive Geddes said yesterday current numbers would double by 2026.

"Queenstown's average day population of around 35,000 will double to around 70,000, and our peak population, which is district-wide, will rise from 70,000 to around 140,000 by 2026," he said.

Mr Geddes said the council figures were based on an unconstrained growth model but accepted there could be population constraints between now and 2026.

"The QLDC is not prepared to guess what those constraints could be.

"We don't want people to run out of water in 2020 because in 2010 the council had a guess at what the population might be, and the 2001 and 2006 censuses have reinforced our figures."

Mr Geddes said Queenstown had a very disjointed demographic profile, with the highest percentage of people between the ages of 17 and 35 countrywide, and one of the lowest percentages of people aged 55 and over.

Mr Geddes said preparation for growth was something the council had been prepared for a long time.

"All of the council's infrastructure works for the next 10 years and the 10 years after that are driven by those population projections, and every three to four years we review our progress."

Mr Geddes said if population growth slowed, so did the rate at which the council put in infrastructure services but, if it grew, the council would adjust to put in amenities earlier.

AIRPORT EXPECTS RECORD PASSENGER NUMBERS

Source: SUE FEA, The Southland Times Last updated 05:00 11/03/2010

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Queenstown airport was expected to clock a record 790,000 passengers by the end of this financial year, the airport's chief executive Steve Sanderson told the resort's tourism industry yesterday.

The airport was expecting a total of 690,000 domestic passengers and 100,000 international passengers through its arrivals lounge for the year ending June 30. International passengers were up 34 per cent so far this financial year, thanks to an increase in Australian visitors.

Domestic seat capacity was down 1 per cent but loadings were up 78 per cent.

The airport's 16 international flights a week last winter would expand to 24 flights a week this winter, Mr Sanderson said.

The corporation expected to invest $25m in the airport during the next five years, with $8m allocated to its compulsory (RESA) runway extensions, which had to be in place by next year.

It would cost the corporation an estimated $1m to implement new noise boundaries for the airport.

Mr Sanderson also urged hoteliers to be more vocal in supporting the corporation's proposed plan change to extend its operating hours from 10pm till midnight.

PROJECTIONS

Queenstown Lakes Mayor Clive Geddes told Queenstown hoteliers yesterday that council modelling showed: wthe district was likely to be hosting 4.3m visitors by 2030, up from 1.3m annually now wthe district's population now was between 32,000 and 33,000 – 26,000 of those residents wthe district's population doubles to 71,000 during Christmas and January peak holidays – that will double to 140,000 by 2030.

Fire brigade distributing home alarms
Source: Otago Daily Times, James Beech, Friday 18th September 2009

Arrowtown Volunteer Fire Brigade and Harcourts Arrowtown have joined forces to distribute 500 smoke alarms to elderly, disabled and special needs residents in the village.

The new initiative will be part of an open day, on October 4, at the fire station, where the importance of life-saving smoke alarms will be promoted.

A car boot sale will be held, with proceeds paying for alarm batteries for future replacement and the brigade will launch a recruitment drive, calling specifically for day-time volunteers.

The brigade, St John Wakatipu and Queenstown police will operate stalls to raise awareness of their activities.

The Arrowtown Scout Group will provide a sausage sizzle.

"Life tubes", plastic medication containers that attach to a refrigerator door and can be accessed by someone assisting in an emergency, will be available.

The community fete is being organised by qualified Arrowtown firefighters Adin May, Terry Youngman and Jennifer Cavanagh, who is also the Harcourts administrator.

Harcourts bought the Chubb alarms from NZ Safety, in Invercargill, and firefighters will install alarms in qualifying residences.

"There's a minimum of three smoke alarms per home and that's what we're putting in," Mrs Cavanagh said.

Mr May said the aim of the day was to tie in the importance of installing smoke alarms and checking batteries with the switch to daylight saving time the Sunday before.

The day would open the doors of the fire station to the community and answer questions about joining or assisting the brigade, he said.

"There's a lot of old houses, old cribs in Arrowtown made in not fire-resistant material. If one of those places does come alight, which has happened, they go up in flames very quickly."

A colouring competition for Arrowtown school and pre-school children will be judged on the day by representatives of Harcourts and the brigade.