04/09/2026
What a great evening yesterday! It was fantastic to see so many people come along and engage with such an important topic, while also raising a wonderful koha for Happiness House.
Thank you to Catalyst Trust Queenstown and Cath for organising, and to everyone who joined us at The Rees.
In the last six years NZ has had five Tourism Ministers. And each time, they've had to start from scratch to learn about infrastructure, funding and other pressures, and the national co-ordination needed to ensure the industry delivers for New Zealanders.
The two leading voices at the ministerial table are Tourism New Zealand – whose sole mandate is to grow international demand – and Tourism Industry Aotearoa, an organisation tasked with serving its mostly tourism operator members.
Unlike other major industries, there is no co-ordinating authority to provide governance, advocacy, advise on strategic investment, analyse infrastructural needs, build capability, drive R & D. And ensure the good ship NZ Tourism doesn’t flail on the rocks of overtourism, traffic gridlock, sewage outfalls, community pushback…
Sound familiar, Queenstown?
But the almost 100 people at last night’s Catalyst Trust “The Future of Tourism?” event heard that there is hope, coded within the recently released, first ever Tourism Policy Statement.
It requires new legislation, which will likely take three years – but with the TPS’s all-party support, there is real hope it will happen.
Thanks to our panel – Kiri Goulter, Mat Woods and Sarah Bennett, to The Rees Hotel Queenstown for their fantastic venue and for hosting Kiri, and to our audience for taking part and taking this much-needed conversation forward.
We are still anticipating some online donations, but already have $862.70 koha from the evening to donate to our invaluable community support centre, Happiness House.
