Queenstown Celebrates Winter as Festival Breaks Records
June 22, 2015
Queenstown could see multiple records broken following a stellar start to the American Express Queenstown Winter
Festival. Coronet Peak has reported a 50% increase in skiers up on the slopes for the first weekend of the Festival,
while virtually all Festival events have seen record, sell-out crowds.
Bright sunshine and deep snow on the mountains have proved to be a magic combination for Festival organisers who have
seen more participation and more spectators than previous years across many of the Festivals more than 50 events. The
SKYCITY Ball later this week sold out within one hour of tickets going on sale and Saturday night’s American Express
Comedy Debate saw 20 additional corporate tables being installed at the Queenstown Events Centre to meet record ticket
sales.
Coronet Peak today reported that all trails and facilities were open well ahead of schedule due to great snow cover with
ski numbers up 50% compared to the opening weekend of the Festival last year. The fact that all of the Coronet Peak runs
were enjoying near perfect snow meant that the extra numbers could be handled without any major delays being experienced
by skiers.
The snow failed to dent passenger numbers flying into Queenstown airport where managers are forecasting a 7% increase
over last year’s Festival numbers. The increased passenger forecast numbers include over 15,000 visitors from outside
New Zealand and a total of over 46,000 during the Festival period.
“This puts us on track for one of the best Festivals ever” said Festival Manager Lisa Buckingham. “Everything has worked
like clockwork. We had contingency plans for the big snow, but in the end it just fell up on the mountains and left the
centre of Queenstown 100% open for business.”
The American Express Opening Party and Fireworks saw more than 10,000 visitors stream into the town centre on Friday
evening with numbers also up for the American Express Street Parade on Saturday and yesterday’s Hits 90.4 Birdman
competition.
“This strong start reconfirms that the American Express Queenstown Winter Festival truly is the Southern Hemisphere’s
largest celebration of winter” said Destination Queenstown CEO Graham Budd. “Every year Queenstown’s global reputation
for scenery, adventure, the creative arts plus great wine and food gets stronger. The Festival is the perfect vehicle to
present all of our best attributes in one amazing package.”
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