Queenstown's big weekend party to celebrate winter, snow and visitors
The people of Queenstown will celebrate the winter they hope will turn the tourist destination’s fortunes around after a lamentable two years of Covid-19.
The Welcome to Winter 2022 celebration will take place over four days starting on Thursday and include fireworks, live music, night skiing and swimming in Lake Wakatipu for the enthusiastic.
Headline act Mitch James would play on the central Queenstown outdoor stage on Friday, followed by Stellar on Saturday.
Destination Queenstown chief executive Mat Woods said the celebration would be happening on one of the busiest weekends of winter when the Australian and New Zealand school holidays overlap.
Kiwi musician Mitch James will be performing in central Queenstown on Friday night.
Kiwi musician Mitch James will be performing in central Queenstown on Friday night.
While everyone would benefit, the celebrations would be focused on the local community, he said.
Since Covid-19 arrived in New Zealand in 2020 and borders closed, Queenstown’s tourism and hospitality businesses have been hit by a massive drop in customers.
Just in the year to January 2021 there was a 33% drop in visitor spending in the town, down to $610 million.
Even with borders open now, many businesses were running at less capacity due to critical staff shortages and staff being hit by winter illnesses and absences due to Covid-19.
However, the winter season had started with incredible snow, which attracted strong numbers of Australian visitors, Woods said.
Many direct trans-Tasman flights have been booked out and hotels were booked about 80%, the highest levels since 2019, Woods said.
“This is the boost we need. It’s great, but it’s going to be a long recovery.”
Future Hospitality Group co-owner Bert Haines said there were ten-fold more visitors in Queenstown in recent weeks compared to the last two years.
“We’re busy... we’re actually overwhelmed by the amount of people here combined with the lack of staff available to work.”
Like other businesses he was battling staff shortages and sickness across the company’s five central-Queenstown restaurants and bars.
Queenstown's latest boutique hotel is facing an unusual quandary as it prepares to welcome Australian tourists - it can't find any trained butlers.
“It’s been a very delicate line to navigate, trying to look after our team and look after our guests,” he said.
The company would not be able to continue operating all of its venues seven days a week, he said.
Woods said it would take some more time for the number of visitors to Queenstown to build up to 2019 levels and many hotels were restricting bookings due to the staff shortages.
Also, there were more beds in town than pre-Covid, including the 227-room Holiday Inn Express and Suites in central Queenstown and three new hotels with a total of about 340 rooms in the suburb of Frankton.
The Welcome to Winter celebration would also mark the return of large events to the district.
Paid for from the government’s $50 million Regional Events Fund, it marked the end of a horror run with events expected to generate $100 million cancelled in the first four months of the year.
“I’m looking forward to it. I can’t wait,” Woods said.
Poll: Should we be giving the green light to new mining projects? 💰🌲
The Environmental Protection Authority announced this week that a proposed mine in Central Otago (near Cromwell) is about to enter its fast-track assessment process. A final decision could come within six months, and if it’s approved, construction might start as early as mid-2026.
We want to know: Should mining projects like this move ahead?
Keen to dig deeper? Mike White has the scoop.
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53.5% Yes
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46.5% No
A riddle to start the festive season 🌲🎁🌟
I'm a fruit. If you take away my first letter, I'm a crime. If you take away my first two letters, I'm an animal. If you take away my first and last letter, I'm a form of music. What am I?
Do you think you know the answer? Simply 'Like' this post if you know the answer and the big reveal will be posted in the comments at 2pm on the day!
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Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.
‘Tis the season to not get scammed ...
As Christmas gift shopping moves increasingly online, scammers are ramping up their activity across the country.
Dunedin’s Investigation Support Unit is seeing more and more people fall victim to scams and other fraudulent activity, particularly on Facebook Marketplace.
There are a few ways to avoid the scams and keep yourself safe doing online trades this holiday season, says Southern District Service Delivery Manager Senior Sergeant Dalton.
🔒 “A good first step when looking to purchase something on Marketplace is to check when the seller’s Facebook profile was created. If it’s very recent, there is a higher risk that they have just created this account for a one-off fake item.”
🔒 Another important step is to make sure the seller’s profile name and bank account name match up. “We’re seeing a lot of scammers claiming their bank account name is different because it belongs to their partner or family member - that’s a huge red flag."
🔒 “When you’re selling, never trust a screenshot anyone sends you showing that payment has been made. Check your own bank account to make sure a payment has gone through."
🔒 “Quite frankly, it’s best for all parties to agree to pay, or be paid, for items in cash and in-person. Ideally in a public place with CCTV coverage."
🔒 "If you’re buying a car, check Carjam.co.nz to see if it’s stolen or if there’s money owed on it.”
A reminder: Suspicious activity can be reported on 105
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