The Queenstown Trail received a major boost yesterday, when a funding contract with New Zealand Cycle Trail project was signed in Queenstown.
The Queenstown Trail will wind over 87km of new and existing cycle trails, follow lakes and rivers, take to country lanes and include the Gibbston wine-making district.
In July, the Wakatipu Trails Trust learned it was one of 13 national cycle trails which would receive funding from the Government.
The trust's $1.83 million grant was officially signed at the Queenstown Lakes District Council chambers yesterday afternoon.
New Zealand Cycle Trail programme manager John Dunn described the Queenstown Trail as a "platform for economic development".
"This contract will help accomplish the goals of the New Zealand Cycle Trail project, which are to generate lasting economic, social and environmental benefits for New Zealand communities through a network of world-class cycling experiences."
Mr Dunn said when the bids were being assessed, Queenstown's proposal received "a huge tick" for three things - landscape; the opportunities it would provide for people to use more sustainable forms of transport and the existing tourist infrastructure.
It could also spark new tourist businesses.
"It is a catalyst.
While existing tourism people will do well out of this, it opens the opportunities for more people to come in [such as] an accommodation area in a key part of the trail."
Wakatipu Trails Trust chief executive Kaye Parker said the community was right behind the project, evidenced by the recent Wakatipu Trail Blazer event, which raised $90,000 for the trails trust.
"We are confident that we will get the ongoing financial support to meet our co-funding obligations."
The trust would probably need another $2.5 million to $3 million to meet those obligations.
The government grant would "turbocharge" the new trail, she said.
District councillor Vanessa van Uden, who signed the contract yesterday on behalf of the Wakatipu Trails Trust, said it would see "the achievement ... of a lot of our dreams and visions for what cycling and walking trails could be in the Wakatipu".
