No 700
FIRST ON THE STREET
14th May - 20th May
LAKES WEEKLY BULLETIN
www.lwb.co.nz • buy • accommodation • sell • information • jobs • enquiries@lwb.co.nz
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Is our economy no longer serving the community’s interests? More than half of all employees in the Queenstown Lakes economy are employed in tourism. This industry is the backbone of our economy but having most of our eggs in the tourism basket is neither wise, nor practical. Recent pushback on development at Ladies Mile, debate around the airports’ focus on corporate growth over community impact, and the ongoing conversation around affordable housing and working wages are indicators that residents want something to change. We have reached a critical junction point. Are we destined to be a tourism-only town, or can we diversify our economy with more industries added to the mix before it’s too late? Do we need to double down on a single industry? Will more tourism increase wages, create meaningful career opportunities, or reduce the strain on our housing market? Will more tourism make Queenstown Lakes a better place to live, work, and play? Will more tourism attract the best and brightest to settle here as fulltime residents and contribute to the fabric of our community? Let’s be clear - this isn’t anti-tourism thinking. We have achieved an incredible level of success building a destination with global appeal. As a community we need to discuss whether we want all our eggs in the tourism basket, or do we now prioritise diversification of our economy and spread more of those proverbial eggs around before something cracks? Let’s put the incredible investment that created our destination to work by attracting and stimulating the next industries in our community. We don’t need to replace tourism, just add to and leverage it. Diversification increases our intellectual, cultural, and economic options to make this place a place that our children can thrive in as they grow up. Three promising areas have Council support: film, education, and the knowledge and innovation sector. Ratepayers are investing nearly a billion dollars over ten years on physical infrastructure to deal with where we are today, in anticipation of more of the same. By comparison, we are investing less than 1% of that to diversifying our economy over the same period. Editorial continued on page 8.
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Blair Maddison & the ‘She-Devil’ celebrate Devil Burgers 10th anniversary. (Photo: Lakes Weekly Bulletin)