Gearing up for winter Queenstown-style

The Southern Hemisphere’s biggest winter party, the award-winning American Express Queenstown Winter Festival, is back from 24 June to 3 July 2011 to start the winter season off with a bang in New Zealand’s world-renowned lake and alpine resort town.

Queenstown’s magnificent snow capped mountains, crystal clear lake and buzzing cosmopolitan resort town provide the perfect backdrop for the internationally acclaimed festival. Each year tens of thousands of locals and visitors take to the streets and slopes for 10 days of non-stop fun featuring live music, fireworks, glamorous balls, crazy races, comedy, charity punch ups and loads of family fun.

Destination Queenstown owns the 37-year old festival and CEO Tony Everitt says that now the focus is shifting toward the winter season, anticipation is building strongly for this year’s event which promises to be a hit.

“Winter Festival has always been the town’s way of declaring Queenstown is open for winter and celebrating it with a really good party - and the more people who come the merrier! It’s the perfect time for visitors to experience Queenstown and enjoy the festivities as part of their winter holiday.

“The festival is fantastic for the town - it unites the community, entertains our visitors and starts the winter season with a bang.”

Over the years the success of the Winter Festival has snowballed, earning it a solid national and international reputation – so much so that it’s been ranked among the world’s Top 10 ‘must-do’ festivals by major Australian website Yahoo!7 Travel.

Festival Director Simon Green says while the Winter Festival’s programme of free and ticketed events is inherently Kiwi - and Queenstown - in nature, it appeals to a broad global audience.

“As organisers, we inject new events into the programme each year but have always stayed true to the festival’s roots - celebrating winter and Queenstown’s unique culture and community. This formula is a big drawcard for our festival visitors because they get a chance to experience Kiwi culture at its best and mingle with the locals.”

For more Winter Festival information visit www.winterfestival.co.nz or to find out more about Queenstown visit www.queenstown-nz.co.nz.

ENDS

Stay in Queenstown
Queenstown caters for a wide range of accommodation styles and budgets. International chains sit alongside backpacker properties B&Bs, luxury lodges, motels and apartment complexes. Visitors can choose to stay in the heart of the downtown action or to retreat into the hills, with options from five-star to budget.

Great Queenstown holiday packages
Air New Zealand is a strong supporter of Queenstown’s Winter Festival and as well as offering an excellent selection of flights in and out of Queenstown, Air New Zealand Holidays has this year compiled some great Winter Festival packages, making it easier than ever before for visitors to plan and book their Festival experience.

Festival background
Queenstown’s Winter Festival was originally launched in 1975 by a group of locals to celebrate the arrival of winter. The group organised races on the mountain and in town, lollies for the kids, beers for the grown-ups, a concert or two and a local ball, all of which were a great success. News quickly spread and over the years it’s grown in size and stature.

Now renowned as the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest winter party, around 45,000 new and returning festival-goers attend the Festival each year and inject an estimated $57million back into the community.

The American Express Queenstown Winter Festival continues to gain national and international recognition. It is now ranked among the world’s Top 10 ‘must-do’ festivals by major Australian website Yahoo!7 Travel and in 2010 it scooped ‘Best Marketing of Event’ at the New Zealand Association of Event Professionals (NZAEP) Event Industry Awards. In 2009 it won Best Established Event at the same awards for its innovation, rejuvenation, initiative, economic, environmental, social and cultural sustainability.