Overseas investment decision for case 202200538 - Hampshire Holiday Parks Limited

An overseas investment in sensitive land, being the Applicant's acquisition of leasehold interests in approximately:

1. 1.9000 hectares of land located at Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park, 4 Cemetery Road, Queenstown.
2. 2.8000 hectares of land located at Arrowtown Holiday Park, 12 Centennial Avenue, Arrowtown.
3. 4.5 hectares of land located at Wanaka Lakeview Holiday Park, 212 Brownston Street, Wanaka.
4. 19.7937 hectares of land located at Albert Town Camp Ground, Albert Town Road, State Highway 6, Albert Town. 
5. 12.5356 hectares of land located at Glendhu Bay Motor Camp, 1127 Mount Aspiring Road, Wanaka.

The Applicant was granted consent to acquire leasehold interests in land which contains the following holiday parks:

• Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park
• Arrowtown Holiday Park
• Wanaka Lakeview Holiday Park
• Albert Town Camp Ground
• Glendhu Bay Motor Camp

The Applicant has received consent from the lessor, Queenstown Lakes District Council.

The Applicant will continue to use the land as public camping grounds and holiday parks. It plans on upgrading the holiday parks by constructing cabins and refurbishing the rooms. It intends to use technologies such as customer data analytics and cloud-based software in operating the holiday parks, and to introduce environmental projects such as installation of energy saving features in cabins, rain water tanks and electric vehicle charging stations.

Consent was granted to this investment as the Applicant met the investor test criterion and the investment is likely to result in benefit to New Zealand.

The main benefits to New Zealand are economic benefits as the investment is likely to result in creation of jobs; in increase in occupancy rates as a result of the additional capacity and improved quality of the facilities; and in greater efficiency in operating the holidays parks and a better experience for the campers as a result of the use of technologies. 

The investment is also likely to advance government's tourism policy and likely to result in a more sustainable and eco-friendly operations of the holiday parks. 

The application has attracted public interest and a number of third-party submissions particularly with regard to Glendhu Bay Motor Camp. The Decision-makers imposed a condition requiring the Applicant to conduct a public meeting about Glendhu Bay Motor Camp to discuss its operation to the campers. The decision-makers also conditioned the Applicant not to substantially alter the operations of Glendhu Bay Motor Camp.