 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Tourism, Travel |
| Founded | 2018 [1] |
| Headquarters | Queenstown |
Area served | Te Anau, Queenstown, Stewart Island, Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound, Wanaka, Christchurch |
Key people | Stephen England-Hall (CEO) |
| Website | www |
Wayfare Group (Wayfare) is a New Zealand tourism company based in Queenstown. Wayfare owns four major tourism brands: Real Journeys, Cardrona Alpine Resort, Go Orange, and the International Antarctic Centre. [2]
Wayfare was incorporated in 2018, but is the successor of a series of acquisitions in the tourist sector over more than 60 years. [3] [4]
Les and Olive Hutchins originally bought the Manapouri-Doubtful Sound tour company in 1954. Their next acquisition was the company Fiordland Travel that had been set up to provide tours of the Te Anau-au glowworm caves. In the late 1960s, the Hutchins bought the TSS Earnslaw. Then they moved into Milford Sound / Piopiotahi and competed with government tourism. From 2002, Fiordland Travel Ltd operated all tourist excursions under the Real Journeys brand, and the company name was changed to Real Journeys Ltd in 2006. [1]
The majority of the company is still owned by the Hutchins family. [4] [5]
The purchase of the Cardrona Alpine Resort ski area in 2013 is one of its most significant acquisitions. [6] Real Journeys purchased Christchurch's International Antarctic Centre in 2015. [7] The group of companies owned by Real Journeys include the Stewart Island Experience launched in 2004 and Wild Kiwi Encounter, operated as a joint tourism venture with the Rakiura Maori Lands Trust, which was purchased in 2016. [8]
Queenstown Rafting, in which Real Journeys had been a 50% partner since 1996, was bought outright in 2016 along with the company's associate coach services company Kiwi Discovery. [1] [5]
The Chief Executive of the Real Journeys group (now Wayfare) from 2012 to 2020 was Richard Lauder who led the group through a period of major acquisitions. [9] In October 2020, Stephen England-Hall who was previously the Chief Executive of Tourism New Zealand, announced that he would be taking up the Chief Executive role at Wayfare. [10]
In the 2021 New Year Honours, the General Manager of Real Journeys and Go Orange, Paul Norris, [11] was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the tourism industry and conservation. [12]
The company Real Journeys was first incorporated as Fiordland Travel in 1950. The name was changed to Real Journeys in May 2006. [13]
Real Journeys operates a wide range of tourist activities including:
Cardrona is an alpine resort in New Zealand's South Island, near Wanaka. The ski field ranges from 1,260m to 1,860m. The distribution of slopes is 25% beginner, 25% intermediate, 30% advanced and 20% expert. [14]
Cardrona was purchased by Real Journeys in 2013. [15]
In December 2019, the Commerce Commission gave approval for the purchase of Treble Cone Investments Ltd by Cardrona Alpine Resort. [16] In early 2020, Cardrona reported that they were working towards merging the operations and marketing of the Cardrona and Treble Cone ski resorts. [17]
The company was first incorporated as Fiordland Explorer Cruises in July 2012 but the name was changed to Go Orange in August 2013. [18]
Go Orange offers cruising, whitewater rafting, jet boating, kayaking and coach connections in Queenstown, Te Anau, and Milford and Doubtful sounds. [19] Rafting trips include the Shotover, Kawarau and Landsborough Rivers. [20]
The International Antarctic Centre is located in Christchurch, immediately adjacent to Christchurch Airport. The Antarctic Centre provides a range of visitor experiences including:
In October 2015, Real Journeys purchased the International Antarctic Centre from Christchurch Airport. [7]
The South Island, also officially named Te Waipounamu, is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, and to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean. The South Island covers 150,437 square kilometres (58,084 sq mi), making it the world's 12th-largest island. It has a temperate climate.
Queenstown is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It has an urban population of 16,000.
Milford Sound / Piopiotahi is a fiord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island within Fiordland National Park, Piopiotahi Marine Reserve, and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site. It has been judged the world's top travel destination in an international survey and is acclaimed as New Zealand's most famous tourist destination. Rudyard Kipling had previously called it the eighth Wonder of the World. The fiord is most commonly accessed via road by tour coach, with the road terminating at a small village also called Milford Sound.
Fiordland is a geographic region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the western-most third of Southland. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lakes, and its steep, glacier-carved and now ocean-flooded western valleys. The name "Fiordland" comes from a variant spelling of the Scandinavian word for this type of steep valley, "fjord". The area of Fiordland is dominated by, and very roughly coterminous with, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand's largest National Park.
Wanaka, once called Pembroke, is a popular ski and summer resort town in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. At the southern end of Lake Wānaka, it is at the start of the Clutha River / Mata-au and is the gateway to Mount Aspiring National Park.
Te Anau is a town in the Southland region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is on the eastern shore of Lake Te Anau in Fiordland. Lake Te Anau is the largest lake in the South Island and within New Zealand second only to Lake Taupo. The 2013 census recorded the town's population as 1,911. The town has a wide range of accommodation, with over 4,000 beds available in summer.
Treble Cone is the closest ski area to Wanaka, New Zealand.
Mount Cook Airline was a regional airline based in Christchurch, New Zealand. Formerly part of the Mount Cook Group and latterly a subsidiary of Air New Zealand, it operated scheduled services throughout the country under the Air New Zealand Link brand. In December 2019, the brand name was retired with all services operated under the Air New Zealand banner.
Queenstown Airport is located in Frankton, Otago, New Zealand, and serves the resort town of Queenstown. The airport is 8 km (5.0 mi) from the Queenstown CBD. The airport handled 2.25 million passengers as of 2018 making it the fourth busiest airport in New Zealand by passenger traffic. The airport consists of two runways, one of which is paved, and has a single-level terminal building with nine gates.
Cardrona Alpine Resort is an alpine resort in New Zealand's South Island. The ski field ranges from 1,260m to 1,860m. The distribution of slopes is 25% beginner, 25% intermediate, 30% advanced and 20% expert. There are 2 detachable quad chairlifts, 1 fixed-grip quad chairlifts, 1 detachable express chondola, 3 surface conveyor learner lifts and 1 platter lift to service the halfpipes and big air jump. Snowmaking supplements the 2.9m average annual snowfall. Freestyle Snowboarding and skiing are well catered for with 2 half pipes and 4 terrain parks. There is also a "high performance centre" which trains more advanced skiers and snowboarders. Families with infants and young children can use child care facilities provided in the Cardrona Nursery and Ski Kindy.
The International Antarctic Centre is located in the suburb of Harewood, Christchurch, New Zealand, close to Christchurch International Airport. It is one of the major tourist attractions of the city.
The Southern Scenic Route is a tourist highway in New Zealand linking Queenstown, Fiordland, Te Anau and the iconic Milford Road to Dunedin via, Riverton, Invercargill and The Catlins. An Australian travel magazine labelled it "one of the world's great undiscovered drives" in 2008.
Transport in Milford Sound in New Zealand is characterised by the remoteness of the area in which it is located. As a popular tourism destination in the South Island, Milford Sound and the village of the same name receive very large numbers of visitors. These tend to arrive and depart within just a few hours each day, as there is little accommodation at the Sound, leading to strong demand peaks for tourism services during the noon and early afternoon period. The journey from Te Anau is rated as one of the most photographic drives of the world.
Real Journeys is a South Island tourism company that is one of the main brands of the privately-owned Wayfare Group. Other tourist ventures that are also owned by Wayfare include Cardrona Alpine Resort, Go Orange and the International Antarctic Centre.
The Haast-Hollyford road or Haast-Hollyford Highway is a long-standing proposal to link Haast via the Hollyford Valley to Milford Sound and Te Anau in the South Island of New Zealand. Proposals for this road have been mooted since the 1880s.
Te Anau Airport, Manapouri serves the towns of Te Anau and Manapouri. It is not to be confused with the former and now closed Te Anau aerodrome located just south of that town.
Mainland Air is a general aviation, flight training and air charter company operating out of Dunedin International Airport in New Zealand.
JUCY is a tourism company which was founded in New Zealand in 2001. JUCY is primarily a car and campervan hire business and also operates scenic cruises in Milford Sound, and Snoozes in Auckland central, Queenstown, and Christchurch.
Leslie Hutchins was a New Zealand tourism operator and conservationist. Together with his wife, he bought a tourism company in 1954 that is today Real Journeys; it still remains mostly in family ownership. Hutchins was one of the founding members of the Save Manapouri campaign and became one of the initial six Guardians of Lake Manapouri.
Milford Sound is a small village located deep within Fiordland National Park in the Southland region of New Zealand. It is located at the head of the fiord also called Milford Sound. The village and fiord are one of the most visited places in New Zealand, receiving about one million day visitors per year.