A new, streamlined services model will help the district’s regional tourism organisations (RTOs) deliver more value for members, Lake Wānaka Tourism’s (LWT) board chair says.

LWT and Destination Queenstown (DQ) have announced the new model for the 2024/2025 financial year, under which the RTOs will retain their own brand, governance and operations but take a regionwide approach to some functions.

Those functions include human resources, administration, finance and others, where shared services will help the organisations gain efficiencies and improve structure, DQ CEO Mat Woods said.

It will also help them to “maximise value, provide the environment for collaboration, create an improved structure to deliver on [Destination Management Plan] projects at a region wide level, and lead to alignment and efficiencies across conventional marketing work”, he said.

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LWT board chair Calum MacLeod said the streamlined model would mean more value from the targeted tourism levy and the member dollar would go further.

“Shared services and sharing capabilities will lead to shared expertise across the region rather than doubling up on key capability areas,” Calum said. “As sister regions, more can be achieved by working together and taking a collaborative approach.”

Gizelle Regan, who has moved into the head of destination role at LWT (which replaces the chief executive role Tim Barke departed from in April) says the shared services model will also bring more opportunities for members.

“Critically LWT members will get access to a wider range of services as part of this model which they can’t currently afford independently,” she said.

Both office locations will remain as they are currently to ensure a local RTO presence in both communities and the Wānaka iSite, which LWT owns, will remain a standalone and independent business.

The shared services arrangement will be reviewed twice annually to ensure it is delivering benefits for both RTOs.

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PHOTO: Lake Wānaka Tourism