“I think if we’d gone out and said it was a decarbonization event, it may not have been as popular, but if you go to a business and say, ‘Hey, I can show how I can save some money. You’re leaving money on the table,’ you’ve got people’s interest.” – Mat Woods

The economic benefits of sustainability must be well communicated to rally people and businesses to take action, says Mat Woods, CEO at Destination Queenstown and Lake Wānaka Tourism. In 2022, the Queenstown Lakes region adopted a goal to achieve a carbon-zero visitor economy by 2030. Today, the transformation effort continues. 

In an interview, Mat reveals how their community’s commitment to being “good ancestors” has sparked a carbon-zero movement that’s become “contagious in a good way.” The region demonstrates that when destinations reach the economic tipping point where electrification becomes cheaper than fossil fuels, businesses enthusiastically embrace change rather than resist it.

Destination Queenstown has tailored its messaging to suit the occasion and audience for maximum impact. For example, they focused on promoting the economic benefits surrounding a sustainability event called Electrify Queenstown, which helped them turn a small gathering into a three-day national conference attracting participants from across New Zealand and Australia, featuring everything from electric jet boats to the world’s first fully electric cherry farm.

On the Travel Beyond podcast, our conversation explores practical examples of tourism operators who’ve successfully electrified their operations, from electric boat technology that reduces maintenance costs while delivering more powerful performance, to a comprehensive electrification that created multiple revenue streams beyond cherry farming. These businesses now generate excess solar electricity, trade energy strategically, and command premium prices for fossil-free products.

Mat challenges the tourism industry to think transformatively about infrastructure solutions, proposing gondola systems for urban transport and showcasing how geographical constraints can drive innovative thinking. He emphasizes that Queenstown’s success comes from engaging community values first, finding champions, and setting ambitious goals that serve as a North Star for collective action.

This episode, you’ll also learn:

• What role Queenstown’s “good ancestor” philosophy plays in driving community-wide participation in carbon zero initiatives without relying on government mandates.
• How Queenstown is solving transportation congestion through innovative gondola systems inspired by cities like La Paz, Bolivia, creating electric transit solutions in geographically constrained areas.
• Why Queenstown has exceeded pre-COVID visitation and expenditure levels when other New Zealand destinations haven’t, demonstrating the economic advantages of regenerative tourism leadership.

Related reading: 5 green themes from an energizing Forum 2025 in Queenstown, Aotearoa

 

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Show notes

Electrify Queenstown Conference – The annual three-day event demonstrating economic benefits of electrification through policy discussions, practical business solutions, and field trips to electrified operations.

Forest Lodge Orchard – The world’s first fully electric cherry farm showcasing comprehensive electrification of 26 machines while generating multiple revenue streams through solar energy production and trading.

Love Queenstown Fund – The visitor giving programme supporting biodiversity conservation and reforestation projects, allowing travellers to give back directly to environmental initiatives in the Queenstown region.

Rewiring Aotearoa – The not-for-profit foundation partnering with Queenstown on the electrification accelerator programme to help businesses transition to clean electricity.

Shotover Jet – The iconic Queenstown jet boat experience developing the world’s first electric jet boat, owned by Ngāi Tahu iwi and demonstrating Indigenous leadership in sustainable tourism innovation.

Episode transcript

Mat Woods: I think if we’d gone out and said it was a decarbonization event, it may not have been as popular, but if you go to a business and say, “Hey, I can show you how to save some money. You’re leaving money on the table,” you’ve got people’s interest.

Peter McCully: Welcome to Travel Beyond. I’m Peter McCully for Destination Think. On this episode, we look at travel’s role in making a better world, and we highlight leading destinations and changemakers. Our guests are taking local action that the world can learn from. They’re helping to regenerate ecosystems, communities, and economies, and they’re often making positive change happen from the bottom up.

Many of the voices we’ve highlighted are part of the Destination Think Collective—a peer group of more than 20 ambitious, forward-thinking destinations working toward a better future for travel and the planet. Today we’re talking about a destination known for its bold commitment to reaching carbon zero by 2030, and Queenstown Lakes’ local passion for protecting nature is a key pillar of that commitment. But the environment isn’t all they’re talking about.

Destination Queenstown has found that emphasizing economic benefits drives sustainability faster than environmental guilt. For example, the organization has found success in the way it communicates about a locally hosted sustainability conference. What began as a small gathering evolved into a three-day national Electrify Queenstown conference, which attracted participants from across New Zealand and Australia simply by changing the messaging to “stop leaving money on the table.”

The destination also demonstrates practical examples of businesses thriving through electrification, from the world’s first electric cherry farm that generates multiple revenue streams to electric jet boat technology that reduces maintenance costs while delivering more powerful performance. We spoke with Mat Woods, CEO of Destination Queenstown, about how positioning sustainability through economics is fuelling momentum and transforming businesses from reluctant adopters into enthusiastic participants.

Mat Woods: Kia ora, Peter. I’m Mat Woods. I’m the CEO here at Destination Queenstown in Lake Wanaka Tourism, where we’re what we refer to as a regional tourism office, and we’re mandated with marketing and promoting the region. We do destination management as well.

Peter McCully: Let’s talk a little bit about Queenstown itself. Mat, what’s one thing you always take friends to do when they visit you?

Mat Woods: There is no one thing, and I think it depends very much on that person. It also depends on the season, and there are many opportunities, whether it’s winter and you’re going skiing, or summer and it’s mountain biking or going to one of our beautiful wineries. But I guess the most important thing is there’s a whakatauki. Whakatauki is a Māori word for proverb, and there’s one which translates to “the people, the people,” which is the most important thing. The most important thing I would get someone to do is come and meet the people, spend the time, and actually engage with our community.

Peter McCully: If you could bring anyone in the world to visit Queenstown, who would it be and where would you go? What would you do?

Mat Woods: Right now I would probably think about someone who can help accelerate the carbon zero ambitious goal. There are two people in particular that I can think of, depending on which one says yes first. One would actually be King Charles, who is very heavily involved in decarbonization and climate initiatives. As a Commonwealth country, it makes sense to invite him to come down and share what we are doing here. The other person, if King Charles doesn’t want to come and visit, would actually be Bill Gates. There’s a lot that he’s doing in this area. What would I do with those people? I would actually show them what we’re already doing and see what they can do to help accelerate things, so we can go faster.

Peter McCully: Adventure tourism is Queenstown’s calling card, from bungee jumping to heli-skiing. But Mat, for visitors who might be a little intimidated by extreme sports, what are the gateway experiences that can introduce them to Queenstown’s adventure spirit?

Mat Woods: I think adventure means many things to different people, and in particular, travel itself is adventurous. Actually, just coming and travelling in its own right is the gateway to some of that adventure here in Queenstown. But of course, I would say just immerse yourself in nature. Go for a walk and take in our landscapes.

Peter McCully: From a potential visitor’s perspective, how would you describe the unique appeal of each of the four seasons? And which activities or experiences are absolute must-dos during different times of the year?

Mat Woods: It’s pretty obvious that everyone has four seasons, but we like to say we have four very distinctive seasons. Right now it is winter. It’s the opposite season to the Northern Hemisphere, so it’s ski time. We are really blessed that we have four incredible ski areas here in Queenstown and Wanaka. We’re enjoying a bit of snow time and that’ll happen right through to late spring, which will be the end of September. Spring here is gorgeous. There are lambs in the paddocks, there are blossoms. It’s a great time to still go skiing and maybe come down to the valley and play some golf. Then of course we move into those gorgeous summers, and we get those long days where it’s daylight till about 10:30 at night. Plenty of time to go and adventure. Of course it’s going to be nice and warm in summer, but not too hot. We’re a dry climate at around 30 degrees. Just jump in the lake, maybe go paddleboarding, or just go to a winery and enjoy yourself. Then we move into autumn, which is gorgeous. We get those wonderful colours with the trees and the leaves changing colour, and it’s a great time just to go venturing in the hills and maybe go hiking.

Peter McCully: It sounds great. Mat, what opportunities are there for visitors who would like to explore cultural and historical experiences?

Mat Woods: New Zealand is very young, but we have a really rich history, and particularly here in Queenstown and Wanaka. From the early Māori—about 800 years ago—coming into the inland area from the coast in search of pounamu, which is the word for greenstone or jade. They would come and find the greenstone and jade and they would use it for tools. They would also use it for jewellery and they would trade it with other iwi, which is the word for tribe, from around the country. There’s a lot of rich history all around you when you come to Queenstown. That’s that early history. Then 200 years ago, of course, we had the gold miners come here in search of gold. There’s a lot of that history. It’s still a young country, as we’ve mentioned. Then if you think about our recent history, it’s around the adventurous spirit of those people that turned their hobbies into the tourism industry, like bungee jumping. There’s a lot of history just all around you. I guess, really, Peter, to answer your question, you’ll find it as soon as you just arrive.

Peter McCully: Could you describe some of the values that the community stands for, especially as they relate to the goal to reach carbon zero by 2030?

Mat Woods: I think the most important value for our community is actually about being a good ancestor. You have to think about what that means. If you think about being a good ancestor, you put a hundred-year lens on it and think about the decisions that you make now. How does it impact future visitors and future generations that come to enjoy this place? I think about my own daughter, and I actually think about the year 2100. I won’t be here in 2100. That’s fact. She might be 90 and she might even have children or grandchildren herself. What would those great-grandchildren say about great-granddad, knowing the knowledge that I know today and what have I done with that? I think for us, being a good ancestor is probably the most important value.

Peter McCully: How do those values affect the travel experience in Queenstown?

Mat Woods: I think it’s about how we think about future generations and how we can leave this place better than we found it. If you are travelling, what can you do to ensure that you leave the lightest footprint possible? And what can we do in the travel industry to enable you to do that?

Peter McCully: What draws people to visit, especially if sustainability is important to them?

Mat Woods: We talk about the wairua, which is the spirit of the place, and it’s really that energy that people feel about Queenstown and Wanaka and what we are doing in a sustainable way. It’s that spirit of protecting this place for future generations that attracts people to come here.

Peter McCully: I’m interested in the Skyline Gondola as a tourist destination, which I understand attracts almost a million visitors a year. I’m interested in how they are exploring electrification.

Mat Woods: In the first instance, the gondola is actually an electric gondola. It’s really important to know in New Zealand that we have a very clean, green grid. A lot of it comes from hydro energy and we sit at around 86% of all electricity being renewable electricity in New Zealand. Down here in Queenstown and Wanaka, it’s a much higher percentage at around 98%. They are using renewable energy, so the gondola system itself is clean and green. Then one of the activities at the top of the mountain is you take a chairlift further up the mountain and you go luging. You are using gravity to actually luge down the mountain. We’ve got this clean, green, electric experience, and then we have gravity to actually get you back down.

Peter McCully: Mat, what kind of electricity are we talking about? I heard you mention hydro. Are you using solar and wind power as well?

Mat Woods: We’re really blessed with the hydro. New Zealand has been investing in hydroelectricity since the early fifties, but of course we are now moving a lot more into wind and, in particular down here, solar. A lot of businesses are now starting to find the advantages of actually generating their own electricity and using battery storage.

Peter McCully: They’re feeding back into the grid as well?

Mat Woods: Yes, buying from the grid when it’s at a low in the evenings and storing it in battery, also producing and sending it back to the grid. It’s about being really smart with actually generating and buying and selling.

Peter McCully: If I’m a visitor to Queenstown, are there some very obvious signs of electrification that I might notice right away?

Mat Woods: I think we’re all really used to the concept of flicking on a switch and the lights coming on, and there’s that magic that happens in the background and most of us don’t really understand how electricity works. My answer really is, no, you don’t get to really see it in front of you. However, if you’re curious, you will notice it because you’ll think, “I wonder how this building’s heated,” and then maybe it’s not actually a diesel boiler and it’s actually electric, and maybe that electricity is actually being generated by clean, green electricity. Maybe you’ll go outside and on the roof there is solar, or you notice that actually that vehicle that’s moving you around is quiet, and it’s quiet for a reason because it’s an electric vehicle. It’s there for the curious person, but I think it’s not in your face.

Peter McCully: The Queenstown Electrification Accelerator, Mat, was launched to help businesses and homes transition to electricity. How is your organization involved and how did all this come about?

Mat Woods: We’re really involved quite heavily in this. This is actually a program put together by Rewiring Aotearoa, which is a foundation here in New Zealand—a not-for-profit that is doing work around electrification. The Queenstown Electrify programme—we’re a co-funder to ensure this goes ahead. In particular, we are looking at the tourism side of the accelerator as opposed to the entire community. Within that we are looking at, in particular, six pilot projects that we’d like to have completed by December. Those pilot projects are within tourism organizations to show what can be done and the benefits of it. Then what we do within the programme itself—you might find an organization, and I’ll use an example. It might be a hotel that would like to electrify the heating system and move away from diesel boilers. The first thing that may need to happen is actually building a business case for a board to understand what it’s going to look like and what the benefits are. The Electrify Accelerator will build the business case. It will then go off and do the procurement of some of that product. It will do any of the consenting that’s required. It will find the installer and install the equipment needed to actually develop the pilot. Then at the end of that we can actually get some workings and show the benefits, particularly those economic benefits that have come from that. Then we can share that with other businesses so they can actually consider doing the same thing.

Peter McCully: Tell us about the event, which I understand was quite popular—Electrify Queenstown.

Mat Woods: Electrify Queenstown. This is good. It’s a super exciting event and this is year two. The first year we did it was a very small “dip our toe in the water” and see if there was interest, and we were surprised and were oversubscribed instantly. That gave us the confidence that we can make this event much bigger. This year we decided to make it a three-day event, and the event itself has the purpose to show the economic benefits of electrification. We could see that there are real advantages in electrifying your business. I think if we’d gone out and said it was a decarbonization event, it may not have been as popular, but if you go to a business and say, “Hey, I can show you how to save some money. You’re leaving money on the table,” you’ve got people’s interest. But what happened—it wasn’t just businesses that were interested. The entire community got interested and it grew very fast to be quite a nationwide conference. In fact, we had people coming over from Australia as well. It’s got huge legs to it. The first day was a very political day. We actually had politicians and ministers speaking and looking at what policies and settings need to change to ensure that we can actually electrify Queenstown rapidly and fast in order to achieve our goals by 2030. The second day is much more around practical solutions and actually looking at what you can do in your business. Along with that, we also have a trade show. The trade show has—it could be transport, it could be heating, it could be solar panels. Actually, we also have banks there to show the finance, because there are a lot of green loans available for doing some of this transition. Being able to actually help with some of that finance. Then the third day we actually go off and do field trips and show some of these practical solutions in place.

Peter McCully: Perhaps you could expand on some of the experiences that folks might see if they were on one of these field trips.

Mat Woods: This year we were really surprised at how many people were keen to come and do the field trips. In particular, we had some great adventures to go and do, including our first electric boat on the lake. This was interesting. A company from the very far north of New Zealand, in Whangarei, actually had made their first electric boat and they towed it all the way down to the South Island to get to showcase this in Lake Wakatipu, which is the lake in Queenstown. You could go out and try an electric boat, and in fact we had people water skiing and wakeboarding behind the boat, including a member of parliament, which was fantastic in the middle of May, which is winter here of course. That was very brave. Then of course we’ve got transport solutions, whether that’s actually just light vehicles or buses. We were using those to get around the different field trips that we were doing. Then agriculture was a big piece too. We actually had a field trip to the electric cherry farm, the world’s first fully electric cherry farm, and showcased some of the amazing technology that Mike Casey has going on there. Then we also went to hotels as well. We have some great examples of hotels that are fully off the grid and generating more electricity than they need and selling it back to the grid.

Peter McCully: The Love Queenstown fund allows visitors to give back to the community directly. Can you tell us about the specific conservation projects or community initiatives that this supports, and how does the model work in practice?

Mat Woods: There are many different projects that it supports. In fact, we have two application rounds a year for projects to apply for funding, and they need to be around biodiversity conservation and reforestation. At the moment, we actually have a large reforestation project going on at Lake Hayes, which is one of the lakes around Queenstown, where we’re planting native trees. The programme itself works by businesses or visitors giving back, and then it goes to an independent organization away from the regional tourism office that holds that money and actually keeps 20% of it in an endowment fund to grow that money for future generations. Then the 80% per year gets paid out into these conservation, biodiversity, or reforestation projects.

Peter McCully: What kind of feedback do you get from travellers about the Love Queenstown fund?

Mat Woods: I think all travellers want to feel good about their travel. If they know that they’ve done something good and left something behind, it makes them feel good and they realize that they’ve been travelling with a lighter footprint. I think it gives them that opportunity to come back and see some of that good as well. We are finding really positive feedback from it.

Peter McCully: You think programs like this can inspire people about the kind of place that Queenstown is?

Mat Woods: Absolutely. I think a program like this in any destination makes people feel good about going to that destination because they’ve been part of that community and have given something back.

Peter McCully: Mat, how do you think a program like that can make people think about travel or even how they live in their own town or city differently?

Mat Woods: I think a lot about the transformative power of travel. When you go somewhere, you go with an open heart and an open mind, new to learn new ideas, and those new ideas you can take back to the place that you live and come from. Then you can actually put them into practice yourself when you go back to where you come from.

Peter McCully: You think this could change the way visitors travel when they go to other destinations as well?

Mat Woods: I think that’s going to be very much up to the individual if that’s a destination that they choose, and up to that destination if this is a program they’d like to do. We think it’s a good idea. Come and see what we do and make your own decision.

Peter McCully: Looking ahead five to 10 years, Mat, what do you want travel to look like in Queenstown?

Mat Woods: I think for us it is super important that we are looking for a regenerative travel system. This is a system where both the visitors and the community benefit from travel and they benefit across the four wellbeing pillars. Those pillars being economic, social, cultural, and environmental. It’s about being able to give back more than you take, and that’s what we really want to see from travel.

Peter McCully: What’s the one thing you hope travellers take away from this story? What do you hope visitors can learn from Queenstown?

Mat Woods: We talked earlier about the word whakatauki, which is a proverb. I have another proverb here, which is “he waka eke noa,” which translates to “we’re all in the same waka.” A waka is a canoe, so “we’re all in this together” is how it translates. If we’re all paddling in the same direction and if we’re all paddling in time, we can get there together. If we’re actually paddling in different directions, we’re just going to go around in circles. I think it’s about really working together, and everybody counts and every little piece of difference counts to make that difference.

Peter McCully: Mat, thanks for your time today. We really appreciate it.

Mat Woods: It’s been great chatting, Peter. Thank you.

Peter McCully: This has been Travel Beyond, presented by Destination Think. Our thanks to Mat Woods from Destination Queenstown. To learn more about Queenstown’s carbon zero initiatives and the Electrify Queenstown conference, visit electrifyqueenstown.com. For more resources and show notes, visit our website at destinationthink.com.

This episode was hosted and co-produced by myself, Peter McCully. David Archer composed the theme music. Sara Raymond de Booy is co-producer. Amy Bjarnason, Lindsay Payne, and Cory Price provided production support. 

If you like what you hear, please take a moment to give us a five-star rating. It helps more people find our show. Thanks for listening, and we’ll be back with more next week.