 – it nevertheless maintained a sense of calm whilst harbouring a vibrancy. The intervening years have seen many growing pains, as the influx of tourists has overwhelmed the town, leading to constant expansion, a lack of parking spaces, and a lot of building – a resident tells me locals now call it 'Conestown' because of all the roadworks – but the clientele has been changing too. 'After the Lord of the Rings [movie trilogy], more films have been shot near Queenstown. The private jets brought celebrities and wealth,' Kevin tells me. He also owns a private jet company. According to NZ's current affairs magazine North and South, by the eve of the pandemic, there was one tourist for every 1.3 New Zealanders. In Queenstown at peak times, tourists outnumbered locals 34-to-one. After New Zealand's 2020 election, Stuart Nash was appointed tourism minister, and declared that the pandemic was 'an opportunity to reset tourism in New Zealand'. He wanted the country to be visited 'by the world's most discerning travellers'.){kind=link}
The city on New Zealand’s South Island has long been popular with adrenaline-seekers – but these days it’s attracting a different clientele
Kevin Carlin slept on a bench for three nights in San Francisco when he was a teenager after running away from an abusive home, subsequently living in a tent for nine months in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Yosemite while he established a living as a cook. Aged 67, he’s now the founder and CEO of New Zealand’s first “six star” hotel, The Carlin, located in the picturesque tourist hotspot of Queenstown on the South Island (though he is keen to correct the six-star label – “We do not claim to be a six-star hotel. We strive to deliver beyond five stars”).
It may seem glib to use Carlin’s tumultuous backstory as an analogy for what has happened in Queenstown since the turn of the century, and maybe it is, but it is also apt. The town, too, has gone from tents and backpacks to luxury and exclusivity. The Carlin is indicative of everything Queenstown is becoming, and everything it’s striving to be.
I first visited Queenstown two decades ago as part of the Kiwi Experience bus tour leg of my gap year, it was all about colourful hostels, pitchers of Victoria Bitter, extreme sports and late-night dancing on wooden picnic tables to Green Day and The Strokes. It was, to the best of my memory, a beautiful mountain town with sapphire blue lakes and picture book vistas – the mountain range is actually called the Remarkables – devoted to backpacking and daredevilry. Already touristy – Starbucks was just open, and it was home to New Zealand’s first Hard Rock Cafe (long since closed) – it nevertheless maintained a sense of calm whilst harbouring a vibrancy.
The intervening years have seen many growing pains, as the influx of tourists has overwhelmed the town, leading to constant expansion, a lack of parking spaces, and a lot of building – a resident tells me locals now call it “Conestown” because of all the roadworks – but the clientele has been changing too. “After the Lord of the Rings [movie trilogy], more films have been shot near Queenstown. The private jets brought celebrities and wealth,” Kevin tells me. He also owns a private jet company.