News

There are many 'received wisdoms' in New Zealand tourism.  One of the more annoying of these is "to see New Zealand, you need to get out of Auckland".  Many itineraries, put together by junior people around the world with little product knowledge and very little client contact, follow this precept and shoot people out as fast as they can to those great uncommercial... > Read more

23 Sep 09

One of the things which makes us different in New Zealand tourism is that we are hands-on.  We are hands-on with our clients, guiding them and walking into lodges with them, seeing their immediate reactions and answering for every aspect of their time in New Zealand.  That can be quite stressful at times, when some people are off form or have new staff. A less stressful,... > Read more

22 Sep 09

I think it was two or three years ago that we discovered new boutique lodge Silver Pine.  We wrote an article a while ago, encouraging people to try it out.  It's with no apology for repetition that we do so again.  Mike and Sue Yates are tireless hospitality professionals, superb hosts, and have the best "bang for buck" value of any lodge in New Zealand. The views... > Read more

21 Sep 09

There is a world beyond some of our most successful walks.  The Milford Track and Routeburn, and others, are all rightfully famous.  They are also heavily regulated and offer a constant stream of organised 3-star and 4-star traffic.  Some people like travelling in groups, meeting strangers, making friends.  Others come to New Zealand to dscover the country and a part of... > Read more

15 Jul 09

We've been debating for a couple of years whether or not to add a blog or discussion page to our website, and along comes Facebook with all the functionality readily available.  So this is a short note to anyone interested that we now have a Facebook presence.  We will be using this to incorporate more informal discussion, photos and feedback than we currently have on our... > Read more

14 Jul 09

Anyone who truly understand New Zealand understands that the true style of hosting here is something which I call "understated elegance".  People do their very best for you, while not breaking a sweat or making a fuss.  They spend days and days and enormous budgets on materials, landscaping, equipment and - when complimented - say "yes, we put some work in". ... > Read more

13 Jul 09

Like many people in tourism, we've been attending trade shows (as buyers or sellers) for a number of years.  We've put up with long flights, extortionate costs, rigid formats, segregation of buyers, arrogance, and of course empty promises. This year, we decided to take some of our favourite contacts, culled from our hugely expensive trade show and overseas visit contact list, and turn... > Read more

3 Jun 09

For a long time we have championed with the "powers that be", the importance of not relying on a few markets and the importance of working with those markets which deliver the type of visitor which our long-term strategy says we need.  The low-impact high net worth visitor.  Emerging markets seem to be making headlines as one of the few areas people can point at progress... > Read more

2 Jun 09

However long one has been in tourism, one never manages to see everything one should.  Even though I also guide and therefore see the country anew several times a year, I had never been on a helicopter tour to White Island.  Over the years I had asked a number of people what they thought - is it worth it?, is it an expensive gimmic?  The replies were inconclusive.  Some... > Read more

1 Jun 09

This is it.  Without any doubt in my mind.  It makes the existing "owners cottages" at the superlodges look a little ordinary.  We've known about this 1,000 acre estate in the Bay Of Islands for a few years when one of our VIP clients had us helicopter them there to investigate investing in a property.  For about ten days now we've had the right to use it. It... > Read more

16 Mar 09