Residents vote against airport plan
OPPOSITION to the possible development of Wanaka Airport continues to mount, this time from its closest neighbours.
Mount Barker Residents Association members unanimously voted against airport development at its recent annual general meeting, due to concerns of overtourism and a lack of infrastructure to support more visitors.
Chairman Jerry Rowley said on Tuesday residents had ‘‘just woken up’’ to the potential repercussions a large commerical airport might hold and said the reason was because they had seen overtourism in the area was ‘‘a real possibility, now rather than in the future’’.
The Queenstown Airport Corporation (QAC) is in the process of drafting a masterplan for Wanaka Airport, and plans to engage with the community this year before it releases the plan next spring.
Indications in QAC documents point to the possibility of the airport taking the overflow passengers from Queenstown Airport, expected to be 2 million by 2045.
While QAC has previously said those passengers would not necessarily go to Wanaka, Mr Rowley said anything near that number was a concern.
‘‘Where’s the infrastructure for that?
‘‘As someone with a farming background, I see it a bit like a dairy farmer getting his cows before he gets his shed and fences up, and his effluent pond — you just can’t do that.
‘‘Overtourism has become an issue around the world, in places like Venice, Barcelona, Seychelles, Santorini, and now Queenstown is experiencing it too, where people are having a negative experience due to the crowds and everything else that goes with that.
‘‘Does Wanaka want to deal with that and does an airport get us there quicker — to a place where we don’t want to be?’’
His sentiments came at the same time as the Queenstown Lakes District Council, Destination Queenstown and Lake Wanaka Tourism made a joint submission on the Government’s draft tourism strategy.
The submission said the increasing number of visitors was already ‘‘placing pressure on our infrastructure, communities, and natural environment’’ and believed too much emphasis was placed on the number of visitors rather than value.
The joint submission offered six areas the strategy should address, from a Southern Lakes perspective, including taking a regional approach, ensuring intersectoral integration, considering sustainability, productivity, innovation in decisionmaking, and emphasising the need for data and insights.
‘‘Our district is seen as the goto location for many visitors to New Zealand and we want to maintain this image. However, we also do not want to stifle what makes our region so special. It definitely is a balancing act,’’ Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult said.