Thur 09.05.13 - wed 15.05.13
free
everyone reads the wanaka sun
Youth group goes Mexican
inside:
Kahu Youth took over Amigos on Tuesday with the help of owners Nicki, Warren and Dylan Bradley, pictured are Jack Goodsell, Jaykob Reed, Todd Buckley, youth worker Angie Griffiths, Bella Culshaw, Alex Johnston, and Shanin Walsh. The youth group will be “Takin’ over Amigos” again tonight, next Tuesday and Thursday, and also the following Tuesday.
No go for Snowpark page 3
Action from Twizel page 5
PHOTO: wanaka.tv
Big increase in Asian visitors Tim Brewster
Warm up this winter page 7
sunviews page 11
Wanaka stars against Galaxy page 16
A busy summer with a big increase in independent Asian travellers has left the majority of Wanaka’s independent tourism operators optimistic for the future. While traditional markets such as the USA and the UK are down, direct flights from Australia, strong marketing initiatives and product development have helped bolster numbers, operators said. Ridgeline Adventures owner Mark Orbell said the company had an estimated 30 to 40 percent increase in visitors from China and Taiwan from the previous summer. “We are actively working with local and international agents to make visiting Wanaka an easy choice for them. We have introduced Mandarin, Korean and Japanese pages to our website, we have Mandarin information sheets in our vehicles and we are having great fun learning and speaking a few sentences in Mandarin. So we are doing what we can to embrace the Asian market,” he said. Working with other independent operators for combined packages has also helped with Wanaka’s reputation
as a destination. “Most Wanaka operators are owneroperators which immediately instils a passion for our products/services which other destinations envy,” Mark said. Wanaka Skydive has also noticed a big increase in Chinese, Singapore and Hong Kong visitors. “In February we had more Chinese than any other nationality jump with us. This is a first and the first time they have become the biggest customer by country and overtaken the UK – ever,” company director Jools Hall said. “It is a myth to think that Chinese
PHOTO: mark orbell
customers are not adventurous - they are some of the most adventurous nations I have seen. We skydive younger and older Chinese - they all get the video so they can go back and show their friends - and they all jump from 15,000 feet. We are also seeing a lot more mature clients.” Wanaka adventure company Deep Canyon has added new terrain in the Haast Pass area to their operation to help with increased demand. “As the market matures and we get busier, there are things to move onto and it allows us to offer such things as skills
courses, which is how we’ve envisaged it for a while because the Wanaka area has so much varied and world-class terrain,” director Dave Vass said. “We were very happy with our season, numbers were up, especially later on.” Fly-fishing guides have noted an increase in Australian visitors and said the direct flights from Australia into Queenstown have helped with numbers as clients can potentially spend more time on the water. “I have experienced increased numbers from the UK and Asia, with Australia remaining my traditionally strongest market. Numbers from the US and Japan were lighter than usual,” Hatch flyfishing guide Craig Smith said. Lakeland Adventures said floods over the Christmas period slowed business down as they were not able to operate on the Clutha River due to unsafe flow levels. Co-owner Simon Stewart said the numbers of Indian and Asian visitors travelling independently had definitely increased, which provided business, but there were still a number of busloads who arrive, “use the public facilities, take a photo on the beach then climb back on their bus.”