Clients and Project Highlights
I love working with motivated tourism owners and operators who are passionate about their businesses and tourism . Here are some of the key projects and teams I've had the privilege to work with.
Ngāi Tahu Tourism 2021 - 2024
As the Project Manager for the "Tourism Transformation" project, I led the project team and worked with stakeholders across the Ngāi Tahui group through a three-year journey to update Ngāi Tahu Tourism's booking system. This was a full replacement of the entire tourism booking and retail system for all nine tourism businesses in the group and included an integration into the ERP system used by the Ngāi Tahu Holdings Finance team.
Ngāi Tahu Tourism is New Zealand's largest tourism group and operates iconic businesses such as Shotover Jet, Dart River Jet, Franz Josef Glacier Guides, Hukafalls Jet, Agrodome, Dark Sky Project, Hollyford Wilderness Experience, All Blacks Experience and the National Kiwi Hatchery.
The project involved transitioning all nine businesses from the incumbent to the IBIS system, from requirements gathering and proposal documentation, training, system implementation and on site launches and post-launch support at each site.
My role included financial and KPI reporting to governance and executive teams, ensuring the project stayed on track and met its objectives. The culmination of this effort was the successful launch at Agrodome and National Kiwi Hatchery in September 2024, completing the move to IBIS for Ngāi Tahu Tourism.
MoaTrek & MoaTours 2016 - 2021
In 2016, I started working with small group tour operator MoaTrek, leading the rebuild of the MoaTrek.com website and the launch of a new standalone website for their domestic tours, MoaTours.co.nz. I was embedded in their team as both Website and Project Manager and once the project was successfully deployed, I stayed on with MoaTrek taking responsibility for management, maintenance and development of both websites and digital platforms until 2021.
This was a real hands-on project, working closely with the MoaTrek team, web developers and digital service providers. This project achieved MoaTrek's goal of developing a leading website and technology stack to help move from an agent based sales model to direct online sales model, with the website and online marketing being the main driver of this change.
Adventure Hokkaido 2020 - 2021
Adventure Hokkaido is a small group cycling and walking tour operator in Hokkaido, Japan. The owner, Ayaka Yoshikawa, studied and worked as a guide in New Zealand and her dream was to start small group tours introducing the wilderness of her home of Hokkaido to overseas visitors on small group guided tours.
I started working with Adventure Hokkaido in 2020 to help them to develop a website strategy and online marketing plan and continued to work with them post launch on their website, marketing tools and staff training.
With the Adventure Hokkaido team in Japan, the web developer in Europe and myself in New Zealand, this was a real international collaboration and despite the challenges of coordinating a dispersed team, we successfully developed, launched, and supported Adventure Hokkaido from launch through to operating their first tours.
Japan is enjoying growth in visitor numbers in the post-COVID world and Ayaka is realizing her dream of introducing her Hokkaido home to visitors.
My own ventures 2002 - 2016
As the founder of my own guided walking businesses (HikingGuys.co.nz and New Zealand Trails) I learnt operations and website management, using website management systems like WordPress and Drupal. This was right at the time that the first online booking systems hit the market and I was in the first wave of tourism operators who went online using systems like Bookit and Rezdy (and a few that aren't around anymore). Having the tools to promote and sell tours directly to travellers with secure online bookings and payments, showed me how new technology tools can really help tourism businesses grow.
Other Projects
In addition to these major projects, I have worked with other tourism businesses on various short-term initiatives, including the website launch for Te Haerenga.nz, online marketing for Underworld Adventures on the West Coast and business development with ATEED in Auckland. My preference is to work with tourism businesses on an ongoing basis, allowing me to really get to know your business and build strong relationships with your people.
How we can help with your tourism project
Here's how we've worked with people in the past, we can be flexible to find a way that suits you:
- Fixed-term projects: From website launches to booking system upgrades, we deliver a targeted solution to meet specific objectives.
- Ongoing projects: We provide ongoing management, maintenance, and security for your IT infrastructure, ensuring it remains robust and up-to-date.
- Strategy & Planning: Our mid-term projects focus on developing business cases and launch proposals, setting a clear roadmap for success.
Talk to us today about your next project
What's your next big tourism technology project? Whether you're looking to launch a new website, transition to a new system, or streamline your IT operations, we can help.
Talk to us now about your next project
If you're planning a website build, booking system update or launching a new tourism business, we'd love to hear about it. Get in touch now and let us know how we can help.