Context
The Queenstown Lakes district’s Regenerative Tourism Plan made international headlines with its Carbon Zero by 2030 goal. QLDC was an equal partner in developing the Plan, along with Destination Queenstown and Lake Wānaka Tourism, and adopted the Plan at its March meeting.
The Plan’s Carbon Zero by 2030 goal has explicitly included the greenhouse gas emissions of visitors’ travel to the district, so includes their flight emissions.
However noble that goal might be, it is clearly not achievable within the timeframe except by reducing to zero the number of visitors who fly to the district.
Yet, QLDC continues to plan major infrastructure investments for a substantial increase in visitor numbers, including a $350 million expansion of Queenstown Airport.
In this presentation, we challenge QLDC to adopt strategies that reduce the growth in visitor demand.
QLDC full council meeting
April 27, 2023
Kia ora, I am John Hilhorst representing FlightPlan2050.
There is a worrying disconnect between council’s Regenerative Tourism Plan and its population projections dataset.
That dataset is the foundational platform underpinning all your planning strategies – including this year’s Annual Plan, the three-year reviews of the Spatial Plan, and the Long Term Plan. And the Queenstown Airport’s capital works and master planning for the next 10 years.
Your current population projections show visitor growth ramping up along pre-Covid trajectories. We expect they are based on the same old sources and methodologies, but these are no longer appropriate and conflict with your Regenerative Tourism Plan aims for Carbon Zero by 2030.
This is an active, not a passive, ambition. It can only happen if you make it so.
By attributing visitor flight emissions, the Regenerative Tourism Plan represents a sea change for the district. It delivers on the post-Covid calls for a reset, a pivot, and a reimagining of the district’s tourism sector.
We believe the Plan has far greater ambition and potential to deliver climate change mitigation than any other initiatives of the council or other regional bodies. It deserves your wholehearted support.
With committed effort across all sectors, as envisioned by the Plan, we are confident that the district can influence visitor markets and other contributing factors, ultimately managing visitor demand.
As an equal member of the Plan’s Steering Group, Council has called for rapid action for systemic changes with no delay.
Reassessing the demand projections of international visitors downwards to make them in line with the Plan’s Carbon Zero by 2030 goal is the rapid action needed from Council.
This must be done now – in time to inform this year’s Annual Plan, Spatial Plan, Ten Year Plan, and the airport master plan.
Thank you for your consideration.
Ngā mihi e noho rā