Carrying capacity / overtourism
HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?
Many Queenstowners are experiencing flashbacks to the days of 2019 as we grapple with visitors flocking in for the 2023 winter season.
“Did you get stuck in the gridlock this week?”
“I can’t believe the number of flights right now!”
These comments reflected community sentiment that the impact of tourists was just too high.
Of course, perception is very personal and very subjective. But it’s a real thing and stems from how we are impacted in our day to day lives as residents and how we feel about it.
If we are ever going to address the concern that there is ‘too much’, we need to define and unpick what ‘too much’ means. Is it simply a function of numbers, or maybe it’s the type and extent of impact? Is it how it affects us as a collective community or as individuals or is it what we see impacting on our environment. Does it simply relate to how we feel or is it manifested in physical form? Where do cultural behaviours fit into this?
If we can verbalise ‘too much’, we can work to find the Goldilocks ‘sweet spot’ where the value (and how we measure that) that our community sees in our tourism sector is not outweighed by negative impacts. What does ‘ideal’ look like?
And once we know what we want, we can work out how to get there.
Whilst there is a whole science around the definition of a destinations’ carrying capacity:
“The maximum number of people that may visit a tourist destination at the same time, without causing destruction of the physical, economic, socio-cultural environment and an unacceptable decrease in the quality of visitors’ satisfaction”
We want to hear from locals what ‘too much’ and “great’ look like so we can influence the work that QLDC, Destination Queenstown and Tourism Wanaka will be taking forward.
We’re going to work on what is known as our ‘social carrying capacity’.
Shaping our Future are holding two public workshops as the first step of enabling these conversations.
Our Wanaka workshop is at the Lake Wanaka Centre on Wednesday 23rd August 6.30-8.30pm
Our Queenstown workshop is at the Remarkables Primary School Thursday 24th August 6.30-8.30pm
These are timed so you can rock up after your last laps on your favourite piste, rink, or track and hopefully miss the traffic….haha.
We are providing PIZZA & REFRESHMENTS so please do let us know that you are planning to attend our events.
In conjunction with workshops we’ll provide online surveys and run a competition on our social profiles with some stellar prizes for the best reel, meme or illustration that speaks to ‘how do too many tourists affect me or my community”
Follow us on FB & Insta and share like crazy!
This should be a wonderful conversation to join in and we’re looking forward to hearing your voices.