Queenstown, New Zealand, is once again pioneering an exciting new travel trend. It’s already on the map for global travelers as the birthplace and “Home of Bungee Jumping” and the “Adventure Capital of the World.” Now, Queenstown is at the leading edge of finding ways to continue to offer its signature, adrenaline – and power–fueled – outdoor activities to the world… without emitting any carbon at all.

And it says it can do it in just half a decade, by 2030.

According to the local tourism board, “When Queenstown becomes the first carbon-zero visitor destination, we’ll be joining a long tradition of local firsts. We’re the birthplace of commercial bungy. Tandem skydiving and paragliding were pioneered here. The first commercial jet boat rides in the world were here on the Kawarau River. Queenstown is the birthplace of whitewater rafting, river surfing and New Zealand’s first commercial ski resort. We’re not afraid to give new things a go.”

Like some of the other of the world’s most cherished travel destinations, Queenstown has become at risk of becoming a victim of its own success. Extraordinary numbers of visitors annually have discovered Queenstown, the signature outdoor destination of New Zealand’s South Island.

The pandemic pause gave the community the opportunity to re-think its tourism future. One that took the pressure off the beloved local environment and reduced congestion and pressure on people. The post-pandemic surge in travel made the goal even more urgent: in 2023, 400,000 visitors came to visit a town of less than 50,000 residents.

“Changing Tourism for Good” – in All Meanings of the Word

With intensive community collaboration, one answer became: transform Queenstown into a “regenerative tourism destination” – with an audacious goal: becoming a carbon-zero destination by 2030 - just 5 years away.

Carbon zero doesn’t mean the destination can ‘buy’ its way to carbon neutrality by offsetting its carbon activities through things like planting trees, although native tree planting is part of Queenstown’s 23-point action plan towards ‘regenerative’ travel.

Carbon zero means the destination won’t emit any carbon – that is, burn any fossil fuels – at all!

"We’ve committed to carbon zero, eliminating fossil fuels and cutting carbon emissions so Queenstown has zero emissions by 2030. When we achieve this, we will be the first carbon-zero tourism destination in the world.”

Does that seem like a bold, brave, commendable – but impossible – mission?

In fact, Queenstown is already on its way!

Adventure and Outdoor Travel Decarbonized

Here are just a few examples of how Queenstown’s travel businesses are embracing the challenge and showing the world what is possible:

Waste To Wilderness is composting 20 tonnes of local hotel food waste – each month! – that goes full circle to be used to grow more local food products.
Sherwood, a repurposed vintage motor lodge, has been named one of the world’s most sustainable hotels. It’s an eco-chic retreat run almost entirely off the power generated from solar panels, with a full-time horticulturist at the heart of kitchen gardens, facilitating a garden-to-table menu, bee hives, composting its waste for gardens, which has the added benefit of reducing the amount of food that needs to be transported by fossil fuel vehicles into the region.
In the same vein, Air New Zealand is set to test the first e-plane flight in the region in 2026, that could address both cargo and tourist carbon footprints.
Once you arrive in the region, getting around, carbon-free, will be easy, too. The world's first electric hydro-foiling ferry across a local lake is set to save 240 tonnes of carbon emissions every year, with plans to expand to another lake, too. Local marinas have enabled electric boat charging, and visitors can make their way to Queenstown via an electric gondola.
Local indigenous-owned tourism company Shotover Jet is testing their prototype of the world’s first electric jet boat in collaboration with New Zealand manufacturers. The electric version not only isn’t cutting any corners from the high-powered twists and turns through river canyons – it’s actually more powerful than its original fossil-fuel boat. And when they’ve finalized their electric jet boat, Shotover Jet plans to share it with the entire industry to help everyone achieve carbon-zero jet boating. promising benefits throughout the country and the world.
NZSki, the company that owns two Queenstown ski fields, is reducing emissions by 50% in a single season! Getting a quick ‘jump’ on being carbon neutral by 2030.
Electric-powered chairlifts will take skiers and snowboarders to the peaks of the region’s ski resorts.

Queenstown’s beloved, historic, coal-powered steamship the TSS Earnslawis the oldest passenger steamship in the southern hemisphere. Now, she’s being preserved as an authentic steamship while being converted to run on hydrogen. In addition, the ship’s owners marked her 110th birthday by planting a native tree for every one of the over 3000 passengers in a year.
The Headwaters Eco Lodge is the world’s first and only hotel accredited as a Living Building. The lodge is built entirely from recycled material, uses advanced compost toilets and all wastewater is repurposed as irrigation, while all its power comes from its own solar farm that generates enough energy to share with other businesses.

Becoming a ‘decarbonized’ destination by 2030 will allow travelers to feel all the thrills of new experiences in the heart of some of the world’s most magnificent alpine locations – while feeling good that your travels contribute to making the world a better place.