Understated Luxury a Big Drawcard for Tourists to Queenstown

Alpine and resort destination Queenstown, New Zealand’s answer to Aspen and Lake Como, offers outdoor adventurers vacation-home options for every season says global luxury source, Robb Report.

In recent years, Queenstown’s reputation for adventure has broadened to include an understated, Kiwi-style sense of luxury. While Louis Vuitton – the world’s top luxury brand – has an outpost here, the locals and tourists appear to prefer upscale but casual UGG boots and possum fur bags to head-to-toe Prada and Hermès.

“When we sell luxury,” says Jacqui Spice, who runs the local concierge service Touch of Spice, “it’s about the food, the vineyards, the land, the people.”

Seemingly down-to-earth diners who sip Peregrine Wines’ acclaimed $146-per-bottle Pinnacle 2009 Pinot Noir at Botswana Butchery – a pricey restaurant where dinner jackets are rare – appear to bolster her assertion.

Just as this atmosphere of low-key luxury is enveloping Queenstown, so are many of the area’s real estate developments experiencing renewed life on the heels of the global financial crisis. Vacation-home real estate is booming, with overall property volumes at 88 per cent of pre-recession levels and sales of home lots (based on 2013 data) the highest since 2007, according to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand and Property IQ.

Original article by Jorge S. Arango.