Residents unsatisfied with DQ

Almost half of Queenstown residents are not satisfied with Destination Queenstown’s performance this year.

At Destination Queenstown’s annual general meeting on Wednesday, chief executive Graham Budd said surveys showed people’s satisfaction levels with the organisation that promotes Queenstown to visitors had dropped.

A Queenstown Lakes District Council survey of residents showed 53 per cent of residents were satisfied with the work of Destination Queenstown in the last year.

That was a drop from 67 per cent the previous year.

Budd said the survey had not yet been made public.

He wondered if residents were resistant to visitors and not Destination Queenstown’s work.

‘‘We need to understand more about that,’’ he said.

A separate survey undertaken by Destination Queenstown showed members’ satisfaction levels had also dropped in the last year - from over 80 per cent, to 77 per cent.

All Wakatipu businesses are members of the organisation and contributed $3.4 million of the organisation’s $4.1m funding this year via a tourism levy on rates.

Budd was ‘‘very pleased’’ with the ‘‘excellent’’ member survey result. ‘‘It’s still a good result but Destination Queenstown’s members have always been forthcoming with feedback, and we take this on board at every opportunity and welcome the opportunity to improve.’’

The Queenstown Convention Bureau’s activity received 60 per cent satisfactory rate and was linked to the overall drop in the member survey results.

‘‘This was disappointing but we fully understand the reasons and have undertaken a full review of this department and have been implementing many improvements over the last few months. This includes the introduction of a Business Development and QCB Director position for which recruitment is progressing,’’ Budd said.

Overall, Queenstown had seen the number of visitors increase at a rate of 4 per cent to about 3.2 million visitors in the 2016-17 financial years and a 7.3 per cent increase in value.

There had been a small decline in domestic visitor numbers, which accounts for about 30 per cent of the market.

There had been a ‘‘significant slowing of growth’’ from the Chinese market, he said.

Two new directors were elected during the meeting - Blue Peaks Lodge manager Michael McMillan and Skycity boss Jonathan Browne.