'Their wallets are full': Snowboxx NZ organiser warns local businesses of visitor influx

One of Europe's biggest winter music festivals is heading down under to Treble Cone skifield and Cardrona Alpine Resort this September. Photo / Supplied

Organisers of a new winter music festival at Treble Cone skifield and Cardrona Alpine Resort this September are warning Wanaka businesses to be prepared for a big influx of visitors in their normally quiet period.

Snowboxx NZ music festival organiser Alex Turnbull said tickets to the music festival from September 7-14 included accommodation and a ski pass and he expected the 1800 tickets to sell out soon.

"Snowboxx NZ is on when Wanaka is generally quite quiet, so we want businesses to be open and ready to go.

"We'll have 1800 people where the demographic is late 20s and early 30s, their wallets are full and they are not generally mortgaged up with children," Turnbull said.

Snowboxx was due to be held for the first time in New Zealand last year but it was cancelled due to the Covid-19 crisis.

Mr Turnbull said this year organisers had chosen a more simplified model and the line-up was 100 per cent New Zealand and they were not relying on the borders to open for the festival to go ahead.

Last year more than half the tickets had been bought by Australians, but so far this year nearly all had been bought by New Zealanders living in Auckland or Wellington, he said.

Snowboxx NZ was a collaboration between Europe's leading winter music festival Snowboxx (held annually in Avoriaz, in the heart of the French Alps) and Rhythm & Alps.

Turnbull said the main stage would be Treble Cone's top car park but there would also be shows at Cardrona and events at the Lake Wanaka Centre and other venues around the town.

Turnbull said organisers were aware of a four-day music festival being run by the Australian company Snow Machine at The Remarkables and Coronet Peak skifields in the same week in September, which was set to attract 5000 people.

"We are OK with that as they have a different model and are relying on the borders to be open, but we did not want to take that risk.

"We think they will be sweating a bit more," Turnbull said.

- This article was first published in the Otago Daily Times