11 Dec 2022

Businesses get helping hand as part of efforts to diversify Queenstown economy

11:28 am on 11 December 2022
An aerial view of Queenstown Airport.

File pic Photo: Supplied / Queenstown Airport

A film company and a technology company have been given a financial boost with loans from the Queenstown economic transformation and resilience fund.

Minister for Economic and Regional Development Stuart Nash said the government has approved a $2 million loan for Target 3D and a $1.25m loan for Loaded Reports from the fund.

Nash said the $20m fund was intended to provide a level of diversification for the Queenstown economy because it had such a heavy reliance on international tourists.

He said it was hoped the fund would put the region in a better position if it ever faced a drop off in tourists again, as has been experienced in recent years.

Target 3D, a motion capture and production studio, will use the money to upgrade its Queenstown digital studio. Nash said Loaded Reports, a hospitality software platform, would be able to grow its business on a global scale.

"These are both digital/ IT companies and there is a lot of this sort of stuff going on in Queenstown at the moment," Nash said. "And if we could form some sort of digital film/ IT hub down there that would go a long way towards achieving our goals of economic diversification."

Nash said the fund has a number of other projects on the drawing board but it was far from exhausted.

"There's still quite a bit left there so I would say to any business in Queenstown or any business looking to relocate or locate in Queenstown to give their local Kānoa or provincial development guys a call, because we are happy to help."

Nash said there were similar funds in four other regions identified as overly reliant on international tourists, and they were interested in providing loans to any businesses other than tourism and construction.

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs