However, Destination Queenstown chief executive Tony Everitt and Lake Wanaka Tourism general manager James Helmore both said yesterday the future for the Lakes District was looking bright.
The international travel and migration figures for June showed a 10% drop in visitor arrivals compared with June last year.
Last month, 131,300 visitors arrived in New Zealand, the lowest for June since 2003's 112,000.
While there were more visitors from China (up 1200), fewer came from Australia (down 11,400), the United Kingdom and Korea (both down 1400).
Mr Everitt told the Otago Daily Times yesterday the figures were "not unexpected".
"We knew that the ash cloud was going to have an impact - for example, for Queenstown alone we [lost] about 20 transtasman flights into Queenstown ... that's about 3600 seats lost right there from Australia.
"That's really it.
"I guess the other thing that was going on was the lingering [effects] of some of the natural disruptions earlier this year, Japan and Korea were both down [in June], and that's in relation to the tectonic plate movement," Mr Everitt said.
"It is history now though - these things are always looking in the rear-view mirror.
"We have got to keep these things in context."
The latter part of June started to pick up, particularly with the 2011 Queenstown Winter Festival and the opening of the skifields, Mr Everitt said.
July was tracking well so far, helped along by the Australian and New Zealand school holidays, with perfectly timed snowfalls providing an extra boost to visitor numbers.
"We've got the snow and it's been great ... and there are good opportunities ahead of us with the Winter Games NZ and the Rugby World Cup 2011."
Visitor numbers for summer from the Japanese market were also encouraging, with the Japan Travel Bureau Look brochure for the New Zealand summer labelled a "game changer".
The 71-page brochure featured 16 New Zealand itineraries, 14 of which included Queenstown.
That was largely because of the tight availability of hotel accommodation in Christchurch, Mr Everitt said.
Traditionally, the resort had mostly two-night stays, but that had increased to up to five nights, with about half the total New Zealand bed nights in the brochure in the Southern Lakes region.
Mr Helmore said Wanaka's June ski figures had been "severely affected" by the drop in visitors "but we will see a rebound now that we have snow".
Another reason for the drop in visitor numbers was attractive United States ski resort offers, which Australians had been keen to take up, Mr Helmore said.
Australia was still the district's biggest international market, despite unfavourable exchange rates, and opportunities still existed to "cherry pick" the United Kingdom market, Mr Helmore said.
The growth was in the Asian market, which had been anticipated for some time, he said.
"To see Malaysia is up 47% in June when we had an ash cloud is massive," Mr Helmore said.
Mr Helmore returned last week from trade shows in the US, UK and Europe and believed there was much positive sentiment and acceptance of the economic situation, or "new norms".
It was important to remember New Zealand's share of the outward US and UK market was less than 1%, he said.
"We are a niche player in a massive industry and Wanaka is a niche player within a niche country ... We have to pick our cherries and go after them," Mr Helmore said.
