DQ plans to boost visitor spend to $1b

Graham Budd
Graham Budd
Destination Queenstown will aim for higher-yielding longer-staying visitors as part of its bid to boost visitor spending to $1 billion by 2016.

The method of achieving this was reviewed by Destination Queenstown chief executive Graham Budd at the latest quarterly update for members in the Millennium Hotel yesterday. Mr Budd gave an overview of the Destination Queenstown draft business plan for 2013-14, as well as a review on the latest marketing campaigns and an update on the Southeast Asian market.

New regional data on the level of tourist spending had become available, he said.

Mr Budd also gave a snapshot of his attendance at the annual meeting of Leading Mountain Resorts of the World, a group of which Queenstown is part , in Sweden last month.

''From a business plan and activity point of view, we think we're on a pretty good track,'' Mr Budd told the Queenstown Times before the update.

''Our business plan will largely represent continuity from what we've been doing and the markets that we're targeting and so on.

''We're happy with the direction and we're likely to see more of the same, with couple of minor exceptions.

''Why we're not changing our strategic approach is because things have been going reasonably well.

''We've had some good business over summer.

''We haven't got a full statistical assessment year, but [summer's] been very good across the region.''

Asked if there was a new major sponsor for the Queenstown Winter Festival lined up after Air New Zealand decided not to renew its contract, Mr Budd said: ''There are some ongoing conversations.''

 

Add a Comment

 

Advertisement

OUTSTREAM