Last week I was treated to a little Irish luck. Through an Irish agent we had previously impressed, we were put in touch with Trevor Brennan Rugby Tours and I had the honour and privilege of showcasing New Zealand for Trevor Brennan and Mark Pinsent. It started off as one would expect with famils of key properties, presentation of special events, and the building of an understanding of the geography and capability of the country.
Then it started going even better, as the Irish are not capable of looking at something without interacting with it - also a key New Zealand trait, and probably a reason why the two nations get on so well together! Add to that two, and later three gentlemen (as we were joined by Jim McGonigle of Clondalkin Travel), each with a fully functioning brain, a mischievous sense of humour and a determination not to let any day fade into ordinariness - and things start brightening up.
Trevor sang a wonderful ballad at a Maori birthday party; with Mark he was introduced to some hunting, trout stalking, and an authentic hangi. We turned up in Taumaranui and met some of Trevor's old team-mates from 16 years ago when he was here playing grassroots rugby. That was quite a reunion. And when Jim turned up and we had a 'beer tour' of Wellington, normality receded further into the background. The trip continued with jetboats and helicopters and a sad farewell. Hopefully we will all meet again in two years time!
It is small wonder that the Irish team is the most sought after by our hosting cities. Such wonderful, warm, "alive" people. Our suppliers were all charmed and very keen to get on board to help this tour become one of the best available.
Things are hotting up on the tourism scene for RWC2011, we are negotiating our official involvement and cannot say anything about that yet, many of the 'biggies' are already in-country planning their tours, accommodation is silently disappearing into bed banks and nascient tours, and the Official Travel Agents were announced last month. We now all have two years of planning before delivering a short, sharp and hopefully highly successful event.
My advice to anyone considering this event is to start planning now, as we will have a shortage of accommodation during the competition.
24 Nov 09
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