Rhythm and Alps party-goers give back to community fund

International music festival Rhythm and Alps is teaming up with Wānaka's regional tourism organisation to support localised climate, conservation, and biodiversity initiatives in the Wānaka area.    

As part of its commitment to Wānaka and the community, Rhythm and Alps is joining forces with Lake Wānaka Tourism and donating $1 from every festival ticket sold to the Love Wānaka community funding platform launching in 2023.

The three-day festival brings 10,000 partygoers and more than 6,000 campers to the Cardrona festival site - with more than 40 percent of them visiting from outside the region.

Lake Wānaka Tourism says the visitors for the festival bring a significant increase in regional spending and a "palpable buzz" to Wānaka and surrounding areas.

Organisers of the festival say they're "proud" to get behind Love Wānaka and "to support the change-makers who are out there doing the mahi, protecting the places we love, and building a future we can be excited about".

Love Wānaka community fund coordinator Ash Bickley says "every dollar raised will go back to this region".

The local fund's "all about supporting organisations and initiatives that are providing actionable solutions to support the shift to a regenerative, carbon zero future”, she says.

In November, in a joint statement, Destination Queenstown, Lake Wānaka Tourism and the Queenstown Lakes District Council announced a tourism industry-wide goal to reach carbon zero by 2030.

It's part of a wider industry shift towards "regenerative tourism" - the concept that the industry and travellers can give back more than they take.

Main image (Biddi Rowley/Lake Wanaka Tourism): Volunteers doing regeneration and replanting work.