A new social enterprise is helping to bring visitors to the district and putting its profits back into local causes.

Visitors to Queenstown, Wanaka and Central Otago can sign up for a membership with Kiwi Welcome to get exclusive discounts on everything from meals to accommodation during their southern holiday.

And when they head home, they get the satisfaction of knowing any profits made go back to social and environmental causes that provide ongoing benefits for the district. 

Businesses, on the other hand, receive promotion opportunities through discounts, and they get to help select the local causes profits support. 

Kiwi Welcome is the brainchild of 30-year-old Sam Brough, launched in the wake of COVID-19. 

"Kiwi Welcome is about bringing businesses and visitors together who share the same passion and vision for a more sustainable tourism future in New Zealand,” he said. 

Kiwi Welcome is operating in Wanaka, Queenstown and Central Otago. PHOTO: Wanaka App

The social enterprise is a way to help Kiwis demonstrate the kind of tourism the country wants for its future, by travelling in a more socially conscious way. 

Rippon Vineyard is one of Kiwi Welcome’s merchants. 

"Kiwi Welcome brings together so many ideals which Rippon has always held close to its heart … community, sustainability, the land on which we stand and the water which sustains and entertains us all here in Wanaka,” Rippon representative Leslie Johnston said.  

It is supporting local social and environmental causes, like WAI Wanaka - members pictured here at a planting day. PHOTO: Wanaka App

Edgewater Resort, Wanaka TOP 10 Holiday Park, Mons Royale and the Hāwea Hotel are among Kiwi Welcome’s other merchants.

"Initiatives such as Kiwi Welcome come about out of necessity and love and it couldn’t have been conceived at a better time,” Wanaka TOP 10 Holiday Park duty manager Jo Bullus said.

“It offers a platform to strengthen the connection between tourism businesses, visitors and the community, at a time when sustainability has never been so important."

The scheme is supporting causes in Wanaka including WAI Wanaka and Te Kakano Aotearoa Trust, and pest eradication schemes.

Learn more about Kiwi Welcome here.