 |
John Duncan Anderson MNZM (born 1938) is a New Zealand businessman, author and celebrity speaker. He is the founder of the travel and leisure company Contiki Tours. [1] The company is now owned by Trafalgar Tours, itself a division of The Travel Corporation
Anderson was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1938. [2] He is married to Ali (Alison), a passenger who fell ill on one of Contiki's first tours. They have four children.
Anderson's parents divorced when he was five years old; he was raised primarily by his mother although maintained a good relationship with his father, a dentist who emigrated to England when he was a child.
Anderson emigrated to England in 1961, returning to New Zealand in 1979 with a wife and family. He lived in Auckland for many years and currently lives in Blenheim, Marlborough. [3]
In the 2012 New Year Honours, Anderson was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to tourism. [4] [5]
In 1960 Anderson travelled to London, England where his father was living. Anderson planned his route to England to include many stopovers en route. As the president of his local Jaycees association, Anderson contacted fellow presidents in the cities that he planned and received many offers to host him. In this way, Anderson was able to defray his travel costs considerably.
In his book Only Two Seats Left [6] Anderson describes his travels with a mixture of awe and sense of adventure. This was Anderson's first travel outside of New Zealand which at that time had a population of just over 2 million. [7]
Arriving in England in 1962, Anderson set about planning a trip to see Europe however had only £25 to his name Anderson came up with the idea of advertising for 11 other young Australasians to join him on the trip. He worked out the total costs for the trip and then divided by 11, thus providing a free seat for himself. [8]
The trip sold quickly, assisted by Anderson meeting prospective fellow travellers and exaggerating his experience of Europe. In fact, his only previous experience of Europe was an overnight trip to Paris. Shortly after having sold all the seats, Anderson was approached by two more prospective passengers. Anderson decided to take advantage of the interest and advertise a second tour to operate following the first. This second tour also sold well and sold out before the first tour departed. [9]
Despite Anderson's inexperience the tour was a success. Anderson admitted his lack of European knowledge to his customers on the first day. After that, he and the eleven others shared duties and decision making, including driving duties in the 12 seater Commer van they christened Tiki after the Maori good luck charm
For the second tour Anderson had increased the price from £100 to £115 per person. Despite this, upon arrival in Monaco Anderson found he had nearly run out of money and would be unable to complete the advertised itinerary. Anderson worked out the amount of money that he would need to express the group directly back to England and took the remaining funds to a casino where he gambled on the roulette tables. He won and was able to continue the tour without his customers finding out.
The trips which had begun as an exercise to fund his own travels around Europe became a fast-growing business; fleet and staff grew rapidly and a number of new tours were developed under the name Tiki Tours, in recognition of the company's first vehicle.
When the New Zealand Tourist Board challenged Anderson over his use of the name Tiki Tours he changed the company's name to Contiki, the con coming from The Continent. [10]
Contiki grew to include tours worldwide. During the 1980s the company began to diversify from its roots as a tour company for 18- to 35-year-olds (originally 19 to 29). Examples included building hotel resorts in Queenstown and in the Great Barrier Reef, and the purchase of Fullers Ferries.
By the mid 1980s Contiki was a global organisation headquartered in Hong Kong. Anderson was living in New Zealand and travelled frequently for directors meetings and to review the company's operations.
In the early 1980s Anderson sold down his investment in Contiki, allowing fellow directors to invest as shareholders. In 1985 Omnicorp, a company controlled by Lloyd Morrison purchased a 50% stake in the business.
The stock market crash of 1987 devalued many of Contiki's assets. This, along with the poor performance of recent acquisitions, notably Fullers Ferries, placed Anderson in financial difficulty. In 1989 he was forced to sell his remaining shares in Contiki as well as his family home to avoid bankruptcy.
During the early 1990s Anderson was employed to sell off the assets of former Contiki empire. His wife Ali returned to full-time work to supplement their income. They briefly owned and ran a chain of stores [11] in Auckland selling packaged sandwiches. The business was short-lived and they moved to Blenheim in the late 1990s. Along with Contours Travel, John has started tours to South America for 'baby boomers'. [12]
In recent years Anderson has taken up public speaking as a profession and has presented his Contiki story to many businesses. [13]
In 2010 Anderson published Only Two Seats Left, an autobiography that focuses mainly on his time with Contiki from 1961 to 1989.
Blenheim Palace is a country house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough. Originally called Blenheim Castle, it has been known as Blenheim Palace since the 19th century. One of England's largest houses, it was built between 1705 and 1722, and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
Sir Peter Wilfred Tapsell was Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 1993 to 1996. He was notable for being the first Māori Speaker, and for being the first Speaker since Bill Barnard in 1943 to hold office while not a member of the governing party.
David John Duckham MBE was an English rugby union player. He played 36 games for England, in three tests on the 1971 British Lions tour to New Zealand and for Barbarians F.C. in their 1973 defeat of New Zealand.
Jane Gardner Batten, commonly known as Jean Batten, was a New Zealand aviator who made several record-breaking flights – including the first solo flight from England to New Zealand in 1936.
William Lindsay Tisch, known as Lindsay Tisch, is a former New Zealand National Party politician.
Matthew James Hoggard, is a former English cricketer, who played international cricket for England cricket team from 2000 to 2008, playing both Test cricket and One Day Internationals. The 6' 2" Hoggard was a right arm fast-medium bowler and right-handed batsman.
Harold Dennis "Dickie" Bird, is an English former cricketer and retired international cricket umpire. During his long umpiring career, he became a much-loved figure among players and viewing public, due to his excellence as an umpire, but also his many eccentricities.
Pio Keith Terei is a Māori actor, singer and comedian on New Zealand television.
John Bernard Hart is a New Zealand former rugby union personality who coached and managed both the All Blacks and the Auckland rugby union team, and played rugby for Waitemata and Auckland.
Contiki is a global tour company that caters to 18 to 35-year-olds, offering over 350 different tours in over 75 countries in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, North America, South America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. It is a subsidiary of The Travel Corporation. Its tours historically had a reputation for partying; however, it also operates wellness trips culturally immersive experiences that focus less on alcohol, which are more popular with Generation Z.
Thomas Lindsay Buick was a Liberal Member of Parliament for Wairau, New Zealand, a journalist and a historian. He published under the name T. Lindsay Buick.
Tiki Taane is a New Zealand musician, experimentalist, musical activist, producer, and live engineer. He was a member of leading New Zealand band Salmonella Dub but left after eleven years on 1 January 2007 to pursue a solo career. His debut album, Past, Present, Future, was released on 22 October 2007 in New Zealand and has since gone two times platinum, achieving a number one single, "Always on My Mind", which became the first digital single to reach platinum sales and also held the record by staying in the NZ Top 40 Charts for 55 weeks. Taane is also the exclusive live sound engineer for New Zealand drum and bass act Shapeshifter since their first gig in 1999. Taane has also produced multi platinum albums for bands such as Six60, Shapeshifter, Salmonella Dub and Tiki Taane.
Arthur Penrose Seymour was a 19th-century New Zealand politician from Picton. He was the 4th Superintendent of the Marlborough Province and was a member of the provincial government for all 16 years of its existence. With his strong advocacy for Picton, he successfully had the Seat of Government moved to Picton. When the Blenheim party secured a majority in the Provincial Council by 1865, Seymour negotiated the removal of the Seat of Government back to Blenheim.
Brent Pope is a New Zealand born rugby television analyst, rugby journalist, charity worker, children's book author, after dinner speaker, founder of Outside in Art Gallery in Dublin, owner of POPE shirts and shoes and founder of The Elephant in the Room, mental Health project. He was born, raised and spent most of his rugby playing career in New Zealand, but has lived and worked in Ireland for most of his coaching, broadcasting, media and business career.
Topdeck Travel is a tour operator providing trips for people aged 18 to 39 throughout Europe, North America, Africa, Egypt, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. Topdeck offers 330 different tours in 65 countries.
Blenheim Park Railway is a 15 in gauge miniature railway operating in the grounds of Blenheim Palace, in Oxfordshire, England.
Wairau was a parliamentary electorate in the Marlborough Region of New Zealand. It was one of the initial 24 New Zealand electorates and existed from 1853 until its abolition in 1938, when it was succeeded by the Marlborough electorate. The electorate had 13 representatives during its existence. The 1861 election in the Wairau electorate was notable in that a later Premier, Frederick Weld, was unexpectedly and narrowly defeated by William Henry Eyes.
Millicent Amiel Baxter was a New Zealand peace activist and pacifist.
Ellen Margaret Scanlan was a New Zealand journalist and novelist. Her most famous novels were the Pencarrow series of four novels, published between 1932 and 1939.
Australian Pacific Touring (APT) is an Australian tour and river cruising operator with worldwide reach.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
