Data from Queenstown Airport showed 895,669 arrivals <\/a>from January 2025 to November \u2013 nearly 40% higher than the same period in 2019.<\/p>\nThe airport recorded about one private jet arrival or departure each day, making up about a third of the country\u2019s total private jet movements.<\/p>\n
Infometrics figures showed domestic and international visitors were spending approximately $2.83 billion a year on their visits to the district, with the lion\u2019s share going to food and beverage services.<\/p>\n
Two new hot pool complexes, a floating sauna on Lake Whakatipu, a luxury car concierge company and a heli-skiing festival experience were also among new additions to the district in 2025.<\/p>\n
Further high-end hotels are on their way, with the five-star Coronet Ridge Resort set to open in late 2025, and the $130 million Noctis by Kamana set to open in 2027.<\/p>\n
Destination Queenstown and Lake W\u0101naka Tourism chief executive Mat Woods said it was exciting to see the private sector\u2019s confidence in Queenstown as a luxury destination.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are delighted to welcome these high-end products and believe there is a strong market for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Ricky]()
Ricky Bennett offers bespoke tours in rare Aston Martin cars. Photo \/ RNZ, Nate McKinnon<\/p>\n
\u2018More and more sophisticated clients travelling\u2019<\/p>\n
Ricky Bennett caters to visitors willing to spend big on something a little outside the usual Queenstown itinerary, with bespoke tours in rare Aston Martin cars.<\/p>\n
Clients can choose between a James Bond-themed Vantage 007 Edition \u2013 one of only 100 in the world \u2013 or a DBX707 luxury SUV, Aston Martin\u2019s F1 tribute and official medical car.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe work with a reasonably sophisticated market who really wants something that\u2019s unique. A lot of people have been to Queenstown before and coming back for perhaps to try something that they haven\u2019t done before,\u201d Bennett said.<\/p>\n
Bennett\u2019s outings, starting at $2500 for a few hours, range from vineyard trips with premium tastings to sightseeing circuits around the district.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe try and work with the guests … to package up something that will be unique to what they haven\u2019t experienced,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The company recently launched an Aston Martin Field and Discovery Trip which was a combination of land, sea and air, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s where passengers or guests fly in from a helicopter base, land on the back of a beautiful launch in Milford, have a two-hour private lunch and a cruise. They then fly back to Glenorchy, we pick them up in the F1 Aston Martin, and then we finish off that day with a sightseeing tour around central Otago.\u201d<\/p>\n
So far, guests have been a demographic cross-section, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of Australians, a lot of Americans, surprisingly quite a few New Zealanders … we have vouchers which wives can provide to their partners and vice versa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s more and more sophisticated clients travelling. They want better experiences, they want unique experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bennett said the arrival of new top-tier accommodation in the district had brought in more visitors looking for \u201cwow\u201d moments.<\/p>\n
He said exchange rates had also been favourable for inbound tourists, particularly from the UK.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd America, where we\u2019ve probably been at record low levels in the last five years \u2013 so that means they can get reasonably good value for their money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Private stays in secret homes<\/p>\n
In W\u0101naka, Nick Frame pairs carefully vetted guests with luxury property owners who do not want their homes advertised publicly.<\/p>\n
His high-end vacation agency, Release NZ, recently launched Black Label Retreats \u2013 an offering where only pre-approved guests willing to stay a week or more, and generally willing to pay five figures a night, receive a password to view the properties.<\/p>\n
The company promises \u201cguaranteed discretion\u201d and \u201chomes that cannot be browsed, booked or discovered anywhere else\u201d.<\/p>\n
Guests have a real sense of exclusivity, Frame said.<\/p>\n
He said many of Release\u2019s clients were holidaying families \u2013 often North American, usually business owners rather than celebrities \u2013 but all looking for something more remarkable than a hotel.<\/p>\n
Typically, the accommodation was just the start of their spending, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe add all the luxury touches. Daily servicing, chefs, hostess \u2013 and what Release does is design their stay in W\u0101naka, so we organise car drivers, personal chefs, personal trainers, helicopter rides to the fiords, mountain biking, skiing, you name it.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, we had a large American family last year. And they probably spent in excess of $400,000 on the extras \u2013 which was helicopters to Milford Sound and Dusky Sound and Mt Cook. They spent over $30,000 on hired bikes, for just getting around town. We had a wakeboard boat on standby for them so whenever they wanted to go get in the lake, they could. Private chef every day, cleaning every day … heli fly-fishing, float fishing down the river, they just did everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frame said high-spending visitors put money into every corner of the W\u0101naka economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe beauty of it is that money spreads right through the community. Your window cleaners, cleaners, linen companies, chefs, helicopter pilots, restaurants, you name it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mat Woods said despite the flurry of new, upscale services in the district, Queenstown was still popular with backpackers.<\/a><\/p>\nThe district could accommodate a range of budgets and travel styles, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is likely that your first trip to Queenstown may be as a backpacker, returning later in life with more personal disposable income to spend on your accommodation and experiences.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHigh net worth travellers are looking for seclusion and escape. A little bit of tranquillity. New Zealand is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[134101,138,134102,134100,221,185,22504,5133,111,139,69,20930,22505,196,134103,9717],"class_list":["post-223960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-aston","tag-business","tag-courting","tag-heligolf","tag-how","tag-is","tag-katie","tag-martin","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-queenstown","tag-todd","tag-tours","tag-ultrawealthy","tag-visitors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}