Abstract: | Research on tourism and regional development should include a temporal perspective, for studies of contemporary and economic impact are, by themselves, insufficient to explain tourism's contribution to regional development. Such a genetic approach is used to examine the growth and impact of tourism in Queenstown, New Zealand. Events and interrelationships are examined over the last twenty-five years to show the process of growth, changes in the patterns of local and outside involvement and the increasing sophistication of a resort once based largely on scenic factors alone. Certain sectors of the industry have been developed primarily by individuals and companies from the local region, while others have been dominated by outsiders. Although the former contribute the most to regional development through local participation in the development process, external developments have also generated complementary growth. A consideration of events over a certain time span allows these different factors to be placed more clearly in the context of regional development. |