PAST PERFECTION: Queenstown before the flood.PROMOTERS of New Zealand's top tourist gem, Queenstown, have been working around the clock to counter hype portraying that the town had been destroyed by flooding. A three-day rain storm flooded the town's business district with waist deep water that took ten days to recede.
The floods caused millions of dollars of damage to lake-side businesses and major hotels, and prompted a two-week state of emergency. The town is unlikely to be restored to its former glory until Christmas.
Destination Queenstown moved into top gear in a bold bid to restore the resort's famous image. Daily bulletins to the media advising that "It's all go in Queenstown" attempted to paint a positive picture, but nightly television coverage revealed that the clean-up was taking much longer than expected.
Destination Queenstown is now facing mounting criticism that its optimistic bulletins had painted a false picture and had damaged the town's credibility. "To imply that everything is back to normal is ludicrous and a disservice to Queenstown's credibility in the media, to overseas wholesalers, and visitors who come thinking everything is normal," said a local promoter, Bill Liscom.
Destination Queenstown chief executive David Kennedy stands by the promotion, and called Liscom a pessimist. Liscom said tourists should not change their plans to visit, but added that they should be told the truth and realise that they would not be seeing the town at its best.
Kennedy said the town was a serious leisure destination, and his organisation would never risk its credibility with the public. Whether the waterfront area smelled depended on the "sensitivity of a person's nasal passages", he said.
The storm's associated publicity struck at a bad time - days after the town's river attractions hit with media exposure following a jet-boating tragedy on the Shotover River and a rafting mishap on the Kawarau. On November 12, the region's oldest tour company Shotover Jet, suffered its first fatality in 30 years. The accident killed a 30-year-old Japanese man on his honeymoon. His bride of 14 days and 10 other passengers were slightly injured.
The industry is deeply conscious of the fact that whenever a tragedy involves Japanese tourists in particular, their home tour companies are inclined to black-ball the operators concerned - just as the JTB did 10 years ago when a sight-seeing aircraft with Japanese visitors on board was lost over Milford Sound.