Mat Woods: Destination Queenstown & Lake Wanaka Tourism CEO on Tourism numbers are still looking up

Queenstown's asking for a bed-tax as tourist numbers roar back. 

Stats NZ data shows the country's now at 92% of pre-Covid levels, with February visits up more than 53 thousand annually. 

Chinese tourist numbers jumped the most in February, followed by Australia and Taiwan. 

Destination Queenstown and Lake Wanaka Tourism Chief Executive Mat Woods told Ryan Bridge a bed-tax for tourists would come in handy country-wide. 

He says for tourism to be our number one export, we need to be maintaining and investing in infrastructure. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tourism continues to roll back, sitting now ninety two percent
of pre COVID levels with three and a half million
visitors a year. The monthly numbers international visitor arrivals up
one point seven percent in February from January, though there
was a one off boosts there because the Chinese lunar
New Year timed well for US. Matt Woods CEO Destination, Queenstown,
Good morning, Good morning, Ryan. How are you very well?

(00:21):
And you must be happy with how this is going tracking.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Look, I think Queenstown has been tracking really well. Yeah,
since we got out of the lockdowns of COVID and
we bounced back to sort of those pre COVID levels
back in about twenty twenty three. But of course, you know,
seeing Chinese a year coming into February, that had a
real impact. We've had a massive February down here.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
And how far above pre COVID are you now in Queenstown?

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Oh? Look, I think it's fair to say if we
look at like the national growth at the moment, we're
sort of sitting around about eleven percent this year of
growth on year on year compared to last year. Nationally,
we're sort of sitting about six percent, so we can
see that Queenstown has been growing much faster. We know
at the airport is roughly about sort of forty percent
up on pre COVID levels at the moment, so quite
quite well up at the moment, and I think that's

(01:06):
that pressure that we're really feeling on the infrastructure with
the increased visitation.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah, you mentioned the McKenzie district when you were speaking
to my producer, and I wondered if you could tell
us specifically why.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, Look when you producers name happens to be McKenzie
as well. So we talked about McKenzie, Monica and Queenstown,
and these three areas particularly are sort of areas that
are really feeling that pressure from increased visitation. And look,
we're all about actually growing tourism, but we need to
make sure we have the right infrastructure in place. And
the problem that we have in those three districts that
we just talked about McKenzie, Wanica and Queenstown is we

(01:39):
have a really low rate payer base. And so earlier
on the show you were talking about a bid tax,
and that's something that we really need to look at,
not just for those three regions, but for New Zealand
for the regions that need them, and of course we're
seeing Wayne Brown looking at this in Auckland as well.
They need a bid tax for events. We need a
bid text down here for infrastructure. And I think you
know that sort of stat that you used earlier, that

(02:00):
is thirty international visitors to one resident in Queenstown's MA.
How do those residents in Queenstown pay for that infrastructure
for those thirty international visitors.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
They will eventually do this. I think the National Party
is going to take it to the election. What do
you reckon?

Speaker 2 (02:13):
I think you're right. I think we're going to see
quite a lot of campaigning around a bid text. We
need to get one. And if we're going to grow
tourism to be our number one export, it's number two
at the moment. We actually gonna have to invest in
infrastructure to make sure that we deliver a great experience
for the visitors and also the people that live there.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Matt would CEO Destination Queenstown Lake Wanaka Tourism.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
to News Talk Set B from five am weekdays, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.