The destination management organisation will oversee the implementation of the region’s destination management plan, Travel to a Thriving Future, which was endorsed by Queenstown-Lakes councillors in February and is a partnership between Destination Queenstown (DQ), Lake Wānaka Tourism (LWT) and the Queenstown Lakes District Council, with input from Kāi Tahu and the Department of Conservation.
A joint statement said the organisation was the first of its kind in New Zealand, focused solely on delivery of destination management initiatives, and would oversee the region’s two regional tourism organisations, DQ and LWT.
"The development of a DMO reflects the importance of consistent delivery of destination management initiatives across the region," the statement said.
Appointed to the board was Murray Strong (chairman), AJ Millward, Dr Kate Meyer, Dean Fraser and Kristine Dunne.
The chairmen of DQ and LWT, Richard Thomas and Calum MacLeod, complete the new board.
Destination Queenstown chief executive Mat Woods said he was excited to have such a strong board appointed to oversee the delivery of the destination management plan.
"The Queenstown Lakes District has the ambitious goal for the region’s visitor economy to be regenerative and carbon zero by 2030," Mr Woods said.
"To meet that goal, we need to get under way with delivering the projects from the DMP [destination management plan].
"It’s great to have the governance in place for the DMO so now the RTOs [regional tourism organisations], QLDC [Queenstown Lakes District Council] and other organisations can get going with delivering the projects."
The RTOs would undertake destination management work where it made sense within their current resource levels.
Mr Strong has been an independent chairman of various groups and has governance and senior management experience.
AJ Millward is the managing director and owner of Transcend Consulting Ltd and is an executive committee member of Women on Boards.
Dr Meyer is a sustainability scientist, engineer and author and was a former director of Ecometrics.
Mr Fraser is the general manager transformation at Ngāi Tahu Holdings and is a director of Downie Stewart Foundation and chairman of Action Engineering.
Kristen Dunne is a strategist with Miles Partnership and a co-founder and trustee of the Sophie Elliot Foundation.
