Queenstown Lakes Mayor John Glover will lead a delegation of tourism and business leaders to the friendship city of Hangzhou this week to strengthen a longstanding relationship and explore opportunities in tourism, technology, transport and energy.
The delegation includes Destination Queenstown (DQ), Lake Wānaka Tourism (LWT), the Queenstown Business Chamber of Commerce, and local business leaders. The visit follows an invitation from Hangzhou’s Mayor Yao Gaoyuan to attend the 10th Hangzhou International Sister City Mayors Conference.
Queenstown’s friendship-city relationship with Hangzhou dates to 2014. Home to more than 12 million people, Hangzhou is the capital of Zhejiang province in eastern China and is known for its historic West Lake and cultural heritage. It is also a major technology centre and home to Alibaba Group’s global headquarters.
Glover said the visit is an opportunity to build on that friendship and explore practical benefits for both communities.
“We’ve built a great friendship with Hangzhou, and I’m looking forward to spending time with our hosts, and other mayors, seeing what we can learn from each other,” says Glover, who is personally covering the cost of his trip," he said.
“This is about exploring ideas that could make a difference for our communities, particularly across tourism, tech, transport, and energy.”
Under the theme ‘City + AI’, the conference will bring together Hangzhou’s international friendship and sister cities to discuss innovation, city management and tourism, alongside business meetings and site visits.
The wider visit includes a DQ and LWT tourism sales mission to Shanghai, Hangzhou and Beijing, strengthening connections across China, the third largest international visitor market for both Queenstown Lakes and New Zealand as a whole.
DQ and LWT Chief Executive Mat Woods said the trip will help local operators build relationships with travel sellers and better understand how Chinese visitors research and book their holidays.
“China has its own digital platforms and ways of planning travel. Spending time with our partners there helps us understand what their customers are looking for and how we can reach our target audience. It’s a chance to share what makes Queenstown and Wānaka special in each season and help our partners create a wider range of holidays, supporting local businesses and jobs throughout the year," said Woods.
“I’m also really excited by the technology we could bring into our visitor economy, particularly electric vehicles and other ways to reduce emissions in line with the district’s destination management plan. There’s an opportunity to learn from what’s happening in Hangzhou, put those ideas into practice here and show visitors from around the world what’s possible.”
Queenstown Business Chamber of Commerce CEO Sharon Fifield added that the visit offers opportunities to build on the district’s tourism strengths and develop wider business connections.
One of the advantages of being connected internationally is that we get to lift our eyes and see how other places are solving problems.
"Queenstown is facing some very real growing pains, particularly around infrastructure and productivity. China is moving incredibly quickly in areas such as technology, innovation and infrastructure, so I’m really interested in what we can learn and what ideas we might be able to bring home and apply in a Queenstown context," said Fifield.
"And for our local businesses, it’s about opening doors. That might be to new technology, expertise, partnerships or markets. As a relatively small economy at the bottom of the world, it’s important to look globally for ideas and solutions that can help Queenstown thrive.”
The tourism sales programme includes a delegation of local accommodation and activity operators, with industry training events in Shanghai, Hangzhou and Beijing. The sessions will promote Queenstown and Wānaka across all four seasons, supporting efforts to spread tourism benefits more evenly throughout the year.
Participants will also join parts of the official friendship-city programme while in Hangzhou.
Queenstown also maintains a sister-city relationship with Aspen, Colorado, and a Memorandum of Understanding with Ulsan, South Korea, to work together on tourism and promotion.
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