New Zealand offers a diversity of travel experiences, from all-inclusive guided tours to great options for free independent travellers, so you are sure to find just the right mode of travel for your clients.

Are your clients confident travellers keen to explore New Zealand on their own terms or would they prefer someone else to take care of the details? Intrepid explorer or dedicated hedonist, New Zealand caters to all visitors.

Organised Tours

If your clients prefer to let someone else do the driving, why not book a package tour? New Zealand has an excellent system of coach, rail and ferry operators offering a wide variety of packages, from city-to-city transfers to all-inclusive tours around the whole country. Discounted passes allowing multiple coach journeys are a great option for budget-conscious travellers wanting to arrange their own itinerary. Specialised activity tours aimed at independent travellers extend the convenience of a multi-journey bus pass to accommodation and activities.

If your clients are interested in a more packaged itinerary, there are options to suit all budgets and interests. Look for special-interest tours such as wine tasting or The Lord of the Rings packages. Organised tours offer the advantage of a professional tour guide and the convenience of having accommodation and meals organised. Turn to page 51 for national tour operators – for region-specific operators, see the relevant regional section.

Free Independent Travellers

New Zealand is the ultimate destination for independent travellers of all ages and interests! New Zealanders have a proud history of exploring every corner of their country, so it’s well equipped for those who like to go it alone. Friendly and safe, with relaxed and liberal attitudes to women and minorities, New Zealand is a destination that you can confidently recommend to your free independent clients. Transport is often a major expense for those who like to explore; however, New Zealand offers a range of travel passes to make your client’s budget stretch further. Look for multi-flight air passes, often available in conjunction with international flights, coach passes offered by major bus lines, and rail passes. The New Zealand Travelpass offers unlimited travel with InterCity Coachlines and Newmans Coachlines, as well as transport on the Interislander Cook Strait Ferry. See www.travelpass.co.nz for further information.

Travelling with Family

New Zealand is a great place for families to enjoy an unforgettable adventure together. Outdoor activities such as hiking and whale-watching will create lasting memories. You may like to recommend that your clients rent a car to make transporting the whole family easy. Vehicles of all sizes are available, from nifty small cars to people-movers that will carry large or grown-up families without any fuss. Self-contained motels with kitchen facilities and apartments, with kitchen and laundry, are an excellent, cost-effective option for families and groups. Camping grounds are another good value option – many offer low-cost cabins as well as sites for tents and motorhomes. Although visitors will usually share bathroom and kitchen facilities with other guests, camping grounds are often targeted at families with children and may offer a playground, games room and/or television room.

Romantic Vacations

From the unique pleasure of exploring the wilderness as a couple to the luxury of a romantic retreat in a boutique lodge, there are plenty of ways for your clients to indulge their romantic sides. For those wanting to take things to the next level, New Zealand is also an increasingly popular location for weddings, surrounded by beautiful scenery. Whether your clients are looking for a traditional church ceremony or a unique setting such as a garden or beach, they’ll be sure to find it here.

Themed Travel

If your clients have a special interest, why not prepare an itinerary that caters just for them? As a country offering a great variety of activities and experiences, New Zealand makes it easy to find an appealing option. If your clients have a particular interest in food and wine, for instance, you can prepare an itinerary that covers the major wine-growing regions. Other popular travel themes are Maori culture, art, wildlife or action and adventure.

Wine

For fine wine lovers, the Classic New Zealand Wine Trail is a great starting point for itinerary planning. This signposted 380-kilometre touring route links the major wine-growing areas of the Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa in the North Island before crossing to the South Island to visit Marlborough. Visitors following this route will relish the chance to stock their cellars with a great variety of wines, from red wines such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon in Hawke’s Bay to Pinot Noir in Wairarapa and Marlborough’s famous Sauvignon Blanc.

Food

If your clients fancy a culinary adventure, plan an itinerary that includes some of New Zealand’s most famous food-producing areas as well as its stylish capitals of fine dining. Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown and Dunedin all boast an excellent array of restaurants from high class to casual. As an island nation, New Zealand is of course well known for its seafood: visitors can sample scallops in The Coromandel, mussels in Marlborough, crayfish in Kaikoura and oysters in Southland as they make their way around the country.

Maori Culture

Any itinerary should include elements of New Zealand’s remarkable Maori culture. Rotorua is a well-known destination for those seeking to sample from a range of exciting cultural activities. Here visitors can taste a Maori hangi, watch a cultural performance, try their hand at traditional crafts, and much more. Northland, and particularly Waitangi in the Bay of Islands, is another must-visit region – the site where European settlers forged their earliest relationships with the indigenous population.

Art

New Zealand is a famously creative nation, so there are plenty of opportunities for visitors to indulge their passion for the arts. Renowned art galleries in Christchurch, Dunedin, Auckland and Wellington – including the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington – form an excellent introduction to local art history, but insights into New Zealand’s artistic tradition are not limited to the big cities. The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth is regarded as one of the world’s most prestigious modern art galleries, and the Sarjeant Gallery in New Plymouth and Suter Gallery in Nelson are also renowned.

Wildlife

Incredible wildlife experiences are part of what makes New Zealand unique. Vast areas of the landscape are protected as National and Regional Parks – in fact, the Fiordland area is designated a UNESCO World Heritage area of international significance. New Zealand’s coastline is also the site for unforgettable wildlife encounters – Kaikoura is known for its whale-watching tours, while Farewell Spit in the Nelson region is famous for its birdlife. Otago Peninsula, home to an albatross colony, is another must-see, as is the Little Blue Penguin colony at Oamaru.

Action & Adventure

New Zealand is widely known for its adventure activities. Hiking is an excellent way for visitors to explore New Zealand’s wilderness areas – the Great Walks are regarded as the nation’s premier trails. See page 38 for a list of these walks and plan an itinerary that allows your clients to sample at least a short excursion along one of these famous tracks. Those keen to experience an adrenaline rush should visit Queenstown, widely regarded as the capital of adventure. Wanaka, Mt Cook and Methven are other popular destinations for alpine adventure, while Rotorua in the North Island offers a range of exciting activities such as mountain biking and zorbing.