We are backing Travel Tech
The tech sector in Queenstown Lakes is just getting started - which means we have a rare opportunity to shape what it becomes. But if we want to matter on the global stage, we can’t be vaguely good at lots of things. We need to be famous for something. Real reputation comes from focus: prioritising where we spend time, capital and energy, and building concentrated expertise that becomes internationally recognised. That’s how you create a hub that gathers pace, builds density, and tips into a self-reinforcing snowball of growth. We’re backing Travel Tech as the place to start.
Why Travel Tech? Because Queenstown Lakes already lives and breathes tourism and hospitality. The District hosts over three million visitors annually, has hundreds of operators within a 100km radius, and tourism contributes an estimated 50-60% of GDP. That’s not a side hustle - that’s deep domain expertise. We’re also home to a small but growing group of technology businesses generating export revenue across a range of Travel & Hospitality Tech offerings. The foundations are here. Now it’s about intentional acceleration.
Over the last six months, Technology Queenstown has been doing the homework on what it would take to become the Southern Hemisphere’s leading Travel Tech hub. We’ve been analysing best-practice ecosystems globally; preparing the ground to host a genuinely world-class Travel Tech event; and beginning the practical work of measuring and building our local Travel Tech talent pool.
International engagement is underway with relevant ecosystems across the United States, Europe and Asia - alongside conversations with Travel Tech founders, tourism leaders and venture investors - to test appetite for participation and support. This isn’t a branding exercise; it’s about building a strategy grounded in evidence and aligned with the District’s natural advantages.
We’re also working closely with the University of Otago, which has seconded Prof Richard Barker to Queenstown to launch its tech campus. The university is launching its Masters of Digital Technology in Queenstown next year. And TQ and the university are working together to understand the skills that it needs to teach to support our Travel Tech quest. If you combine this initiative with the tech courses that QRC is already teaching, you can start to see how our focus is to catalyse building a local workforce. Because you can’t get famous for something unless you’ve got a workforce that’s able to take up the challenge.
While all of this has been going on, we’ve also achieved a major milestone in securing the Australasian rights to WiT (Web in Travel), part of the global PhocusWright platform (owned by JTB). WiT Queenstown, scheduled for July 2026, will place Queenstown firmly on the global Travel Tech calendar - showcasing local capability while attracting international founders, CEOs, investors and industry leaders to our doorstep.
Taken together, these steps represent more than activity - they signal intent. We are catalysing a coordinated, visible and globally connected Travel Tech cluster in Queenstown Lakes. Not overnight, but deliberately - and with the long game in mind.