With the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand looming, councils, tourism organisations and community members will get a chance to hear from those with experience in running an international event, when two representatives from the council of Whistler, in Canada, visit Queenstown.
Resort Municipality of Whistler chief executive Bill Barrat and programme development manager Michael Vance are being brought to the resort by the Queenstown Chamber of Commerce on April 27.
They will present a series of seminars on the subject of growing Whistler from a "greenfields" situation to a sustainable resort community, contributing 10% of the total GDP of British Columbia.
Chamber president Alastair Porter said the men were coming to New Zealand for a seminar in Rotorua on leading practices in local government.
Mr Porter knew the men and decided they could not come to New Zealand without visiting Queenstown.
"The Whistler experiences are likely to be of interest to other resorts, towns and cities that have parallel interests in attracting visitors, catering for their needs and managing a wide variety of events, all based on sustainability," he said.
Whistler featured heavily in the recent Winter Olympics in Canada, an event which made the management of the resort realise it did not have a specific entity experienced enough to handle events of that magnitude, a realisation the southern region had also come to, Mr Porter said.
A working party had been formed in Queenstown to plan for hosting rugby teams next year, he said.
It comprised Queenstown Lakes Mayor Clive Geddes, Destination Queenstown marketing manager Graham Budd, Queenstown Lakes District Council infrastructure manager Denis Mander and events facilitator Jan Maxwell, Chamber of Commerce chief executive Ann Lockhart, i-Site manager Matt Wong, Lakes Environmental chief executive Hamish Dobbie and Wakatipu Rugby Club's Brad Patterson on behalf of the rugby community.
However, Mr Porter said the southern region as a whole could learn a lot from the Whistler Council representatives, with Venture Southland, an Invercargill-based tourism and promotion organisation, already confirming its attendance.
The seminar would be ideal for those interested in or involved with tourism marketing, events management and marketing, planning, sustainability and economic development, councillors or those thinking of standing for council at this year's local body elections, Mr Porter said.
Included in the topics for discussion at the seminar were "Whistler Today", looking at what Whistler had done and how it had accomplished such successful community buy-in for its programmes, on which Whistler's economy had been built.
Also being discussed would be Whistler's journey for sustainability; its role in the Winter Olympics; critical Whistler success factors; and roles of key Whistler organisations.
Queenstown, and the southern region, would benefit from all the topics being discussed, particularly in the roles of the organisations.
"Interestingly, they are right where we are, looking at creating a new event management organisation.
For them, it's come out of the fact that the Olympics has made them realise they don't have a specific entity well-suited to manage events."
Mr Porter said Queenstown had long been learning from the Canadian resort, with which it had a lot in common.
"Every four years, our company [Remarkables Park Ltd] usually puts together a study trip with architects, planners, traffic management and council representatives to North America.
"The highlight is always Whistler and our session with the Whistler Council.
"What makes it particularly interesting is that there are so many parallels between Whistler and the southern region of New Zealand, particularly Queenstown.
"It's alpine, has four seasons, the mountains, lakes and rivers and is of a similar size.
"Although Whistler has a smaller permanent population than Queenstown, they have more than double the number of visitors coming to Queenstown.
"There will be a lot of content provided in these talks that will be of benefit to all those who are interested in growing Queenstown as a successful resort community."
Mr Porter said people could come along to the full day, including a luncheon, or parts of the day.
Tickets cost $45 for members and $60 for non-members, which included the luncheon and all seminars.
It would cost $20 to attend the seminars only.
Door sales were not available.
