The Queenstown Lakes district is rolling out the welcome mat to entrepreneurs and employers who can bring new business to town and show the world it's more than just a tourist destination.
A Spring time view from Wanaka's lake front. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton
Covid-19 dealt a devastating below to the district as one in six people worked in the tourism industry.
Today the Queenstown Lakes District Council unveiled a new campaign aimed to safeguard its economy against future blows.
Drive Accounting managing director Hayley Hobson's story was showcased as a success story on the new Home for Healthier Business website, launched by the local council's economic development unit.
Two years ago, Hobson had no plans to move to New Zealand from Sydney with her family, despite owning a home in Wanaka.
She was worried that she wouldn't find work or things for her kids to do if they moved.
But Hobson threw caution to the wind after a friend's suggestion and a successful job search.
Fast forward two years, and she owns Drive Accounting and is launching Drive Marketing with plans to have 10 staff on the books within 18 months.
"All my preconceived ideas of what Wanaka didn't have were totally wrong. They can do more than what they could ever do in Sydney, because in Sydney all that they would be doing is going to after school care, I'd be commuting. I'd be going greyer than I already am and life would be rubbish."
Home for Healthier Business is a six-month pilot is aimed at attracting business leaders, employers and talent to the district with hopes it will help to diversify their economy.
The website offers information and resources to help people move to the district, establish a business and make connections
Hobson wished it had been around when she moved.
"If I'd seen the website before I even looked at Seek, I would have had that confirmation that there's things to do and all the available resources. It would have given me that foundation level to know that chances are there."
Before Covid-19, Highground Brands managing director, Alex Worker, expected his family would live in Panama while he'd be on planes, marketing food around Asia Pacific.
Alex Worker has ended up in Queenstown, pictured here after recent snowfall. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Instead he caught the last plane into Panama and spent six months in lockdown before his mum's terminal cancer diagnosis sent them packing for Aotearoa.
He reached out to the council to see what opportunities the region offered for food tech, saying it was the positive response that helped to make up their minds.
"This is one of the best centres for any returnee expat or Kiwi looking to balance both the business and the lifestyle. I think we're seven minutes from an internationally operating airport. Within two minutes from that airport, I can drop my kids off at the local schools and I've found a really, really comfortable and warm and inviting co-working space in the Mountain Club."
Worker has a significant stake in sustainable seafood brand NewFish and Lilo Desserts which makes plant-based sweets.
He did not regret the move.
"This region is plug and play. You can come in here without the baggage, without actually having the friends or family, and everything is set up on the doorstep."
QLDC economic development unit's economic development advisor Sharon Fifield said work started on diversifying the economy back in 2015.
Sharon Fifield Photo: Supplied
Covid-19 was a harsh wake up call.
"Everything that we were working on suddenly became quite urgent. We could also see the risk that we faced in having almost all of our economic egg in the tourism basket and just how much it would take to reduce that risk over time."
There were no plans to put tourism on the backburner.
"Diversification - the way that we look at it is it's a form of economic insurance so it's really spreading risk. If we're growing other industries that aren't so reliant on people getting on planes for example, and travelling globally, then that's going to be good for the district."
Fifield acknowledged they would face hurdles including the district's smaller economy, the distance from market and the cost of land and housing.
But that was where connecting with people who had made the shift would help, she said.
The campaign was not aimed to attract the masses, instead the would would like to entice 10 to 15 people over six months.
Scope Media spokesperson Celia Crosbie said one entrepreneur could potentially recruit 20 locals.
Research involving recent movers had helped them to understand that they were on the right path with this campaign, she said.
"We found that they were lacking information or they didn't know where to find all of the information around schools or information about where to go to sort their taxes out," she said.
"Insights like that so we understood pain points and we wanted to provide them with this information that's really at their finger tips."
It will not be a quick shift to encourage different industries to the district, but the council said it could be crucial to help them weather future storms.