Nelson tourism among country’s best

BY ANTON MEYER

Two Nelson-based tourism companies have been named among the country’s best.

Pic’s Peanut Butter was named a finalist for the Tourism Environment Award of the 2023 New Zealand Tourism Awards, with Kiwi Journeys claiming a finalist spot in the ‘Visitor Experience’ category.

Although narrowly missing out on the win, Kiwi Journeys founder Andrew Schwass says that being named second was a “pretty good feeling”.

“It was announced through Tourism Industry [Aotearoa] but posted online, so we all gathered around the phone and watched it.”

Nelson-based Kiwi Journeys offers biking experiences where visitors can hire bikes and e-bikes for guided or self-guided tours of the region’s trails. For the last 11 years, Andrew and his team have grown Kiwi Journeys from their initial base in Nelson to include the West Coast and, in October, expanded into Central Otago.

“It was born out of customer demand, so our clients would bike with us on the Great Taste Trail and West Coast Wilderness Trail and say ‘what else can we do’.”

Andrew previously lived in Otago so knows a lot of people in the bike business.

“Since the opening it’s doing well, and there are a lot of multi-day bookings and people want to cycle the different trails in Central Otago.”

He says the last three years, particularly the Covid years, were good for the bike industry.

“The public got into cycling and bought e-bikes and bikes; we’ve just sort of grown from that.”

Andrew says the key to their success is his great staff who offer a genuine Kiwi experience to clients. With over 450 high-end bikes, the experience and service are “why people come back”.

He hopes to see the business expand further, including offering tours of the Kawatiri and Whale Trails.

“As long as the demand is there, we’ll keep on growing and I’d like to find a bigger partner to team up with one day.”

The judges of this year’s tourism awards said that overall the entries painted a very compelling picture about the resilience of the tourism industry.

“The finalists are a showcase of grit, ambition, and positive contribution. Their achievements are testament to the quality of tourism leaders across the industry and their ability to innovate,” TIA chief executive Rebecca Ingram says.

Andrew says, the award ceremony in Wellington provided the opportunity to meet the other finalists, and the winner of their category, Altitude Tours from Queenstown, a company he hopes to work with in the future.