This summer will provide an opportunity to test theories about freedom camping and the strength of our domestic tourism economy, Lake Wanaka Tourism (LWT) chair Mat Woods says.

Mat spoke to the Wanaka App following LWT’s recent annual general meeting, which had one of the largest voting turnouts on record with 68 voting members attending.

“In [this] COVID year people’s businesses are suffering and people are really hurting,” Mat said. “The reality that operators now can see is that we have a domestic market only in front of us.”

Local tourism operators have experienced that market during two lots of school holidays, and this Labour Weekend “will be interesting”, he said.

“This is going to be an incredible summer as a litmus test to see how the domestic market goes. Operators are ready for summer and looking forward to it.”

LWT chair Mat Woods

Mat is predicting there may be more freedom camping than in previous years, and he is interested to find out whether people’s theories about bad behaviour from freedom campers will be born out while the borders are closed.

LWT general manager Tim Barke and media and campaign manager Gizelle Regan talked about the challenges, and LWT’s work, during the past year. 

Never before have we had a situation where an entire industry has been shut down, effectively “overnight”, Tim said.

After the alert level restrictions eased, in April LWT launched the Love Wanaka Supporting Local campaign to rally community support for local businesses and stimulate the local economy. 

Mat predicts there will be more freedom camping “than ever” this summer.

In May it launched The Mountains Are Waiting campaign, marketing a “winter escape” to a domestic audience.

The LWT team has also been working with iSite staff and operators to develop new products relevant to the domestic market, with a focus on a strong digital presence.

In July LWT secured $700k from the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment through the Strategic Tourism Asset Protection Plan (STAPP). The funding will be used for destination management and planning, and industry capacity.

At the AGM a few changes were made to LWT’s lineup, with Mike Barton standing down after four years on the board, and three new faces added to the board: Mark Morrison, a previous LWT chair and owner of Wild Wire; Catherine Bone, Edgewater Hotel general manager; and Samantha Stout, a member of the newly formed Wanaka Wedding Collective.

The full board is now Mat (Chair), Mark, Catherine, Samantha, Ramesh Swamy, and Andrea Kendrick.

LWT’s core role is marketing, with the aim of building a high-quality destination brand identity, increasing visitor value, and spreading demand to reduce seasonality. Read LWT’s annual report here.

PHOTOS: Wanaka App