Welcome to Queenstown, a passionate place to be

GRANT BRYANT/Southland Times

HOT SPOT: Visiting sexologist Dr Michelle Mars blows a welcome kiss in Queenstown yesterday.

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A sexologist visiting Queenstown for a conference rates the resort as a premier destination for getting a bit of time between the sheets with a partner who is excited, uninhibited and knows what they want.

Dr Michelle Mars, a lecturer at Massey University, has written internationally acclaimed papers on sex and passion as a driver of human experience, and won research awards on the subject of sex.

After speaking at a conference at the Millennium Hotel yesterday, she said Queenstown had many facets that contributed to its possibility of being one of the country's hottest spots when it came to sex.

"There's a lot of people here on holiday, and when people are on time-off, the boundaries around what they would normally do become a lot broader," she said. "It makes people a lot more free and open to new experiences, and tourism and sex go hand-in-hand really."

Queenstown's status as a world adventure capital also contributed to its reputation as a highly sexed centre, Mars said.

"When you engage in high adrenaline, risky activities you are more likely to want to have a sexual encounter, and there is a definite link to the type of high octane experiences common in Queenstown and the likelihood of sex."

Men and women in New Zealand were still quite sexually repressed, and often needed alcohol to break down their inhibitions, Mars said.

"Queenstown also has a huge mix of tourists and international people living here, so I imagine that contributes to the quality of sex in Queenstown, because, unfortunately, sex in New Zealand is often not that sexy because a lot of the time its conducted in a bit of an alcoholic haze."

Mars was speaking at a kitchen design conference. Her partner designs kitchens and she was invited to speak.

- © Fairfax NZ News