Despite Queenstown tourism's sluggish start to reaping Rugby World Cup benefits, the resort's regional tourism organisation believes the situation could improve.
Queenstown is yet to feel the impact of rugby fever as accommodation numbers for September and October are down an estimated 30% from this time last year, but Destination Queenstown's chief executive, Tony Everitt, hoped this would improve soon.
"In terms of the Rugby World Cup, it is still early days and at this stage we're just not quite sure.
"That's not just a Queenstown situation, it's nationwide."
Mr Everitt said it was important to remain positive, as the movement of RWC fans was unpredictable and they could well arrive on Queenstown's doorstep.
"Exactly what their travel plans are, we just don't know. I don't even think they will know yet.
"A lot of it will depend on the results of the games and how their teams will do.
"There's still an opportunity with this cup."
He said although Queenstown had not gained the numbers they had predicted, he can see the "light at the end of the tunnel", which he thinks should hit the resort by November.
"The summer brochure comes back on the shelf in November, and we won't actually see those visitors until November."
Mt Everitt said Destination Queenstown (DQ) had been working on their "Rugby World Cup strategy" for some time.
The strategy has included the 300 nights in Queenstown promotion, which he said had "huge pick-up" in international and national media.
As part of Queenstown's celebrations for the tournament, 300 nights in Queenstown hotels were given away for September and October.
DQ ran the spring sweepstake for free hotel room nights provided by all 19 Queenstown members of the New Zealand Hotel Council.
Mr Everitt said at the time, the promotion was not a response to dwindling numbers of visitors to the region.
DQ has also been working closely with Air New Zealand with the "free domestic flight promotion" he said.
Advertised in countries less interested in rugby, the promotion would give those booking international flights with Air NZ free domestic flights when they arrived in the country.
Mr Everitt said those types of schemes were not an automatic fix to Queenstown's shoulder visitor season.
"All of these things take a bit of time."
He hoped to see tourism in the area stabilise over summer as the Queenstown Lakes District, along with the rest of the country, had experienced a difficult year.
"We are quietly hoping things will start to come more normal for us in the summer.
"Certainly this year we have had to deal with some challenges."
Mr Everitt said that since the February earthquake in Christchurch made international headlines, several global travel agencies had taken New Zealand off their shelves as an "extreme measure.""It takes a while for the global market to adjust to something as big as the February 22 earthquake."
