| 139 Kaewa Tours TOURISM Local knowledge at its winning best Kaewa Tours has won the New/Emerging Business Award – Kāpiti/Horowhenua at the 2024 Electra Business & Innovation Awards, a big achievement for what is a relatively young business. The awards were held on Thursday, October 10 at the Horowhenua Events Centre in Levin. Kaewa Tours were also finalists in the Kāpiti Hospitality, Entertainment and Tourism category and also a finalist in the Customer Experience Kāpiti category, celebrating local operators that consistently garner rave reviews from their customers. The Customer Experience award was done via text voting, but as Owner Tom Collier’s customers are 90% international visitors, he reckons his friends and family on social media must have helped in getting them over the line into the final 4 there. Tom says it’s a real honour to be recognised, especially since his tour business is just nearing the end of its 4th year. “I submitted an extensive written document basically re-writing my strategic plan for the company as part of the application process for the Electra Business and Innovation awards,” Tom explains. I also had an interview with two of the judges, which was basically an informal structured conversation about the business.” Tom incorporated the company in December 2020 and went live in February 2021 when the border was slammed shut. “No international travelers. What could possibly go wrong?,” Tom remarks on the timing there. After the border was reopened and particularly leading up to this summer season, bookings are looking strong - especially in November, January and February where they are almost fully booked.” “That shows that we are in demand and need to scale up, so that will be the focus over A visit to The Roastery Kāpiti. T T Randall Johnston the next year or so. We have a pool of three contract tour guides now. We have a new Mitsubishi Outlander Hybrid SUV and the use of either a nine or 14-seat luxury Mercedes Sprinter at times when we do have larger numbers,” Tom says. Tom’s partner Jill was their first part time Tour Guide and plays a pivotal part of the business to this day. Tom went to work for ANZ Bank in Dannevirke straight out of High School and after 30 years in various management positions with them, moved into IT Service Delivery and Account Management roles. In 2016 Tom started doing contract tour guiding for another Tour company on a part time basis, when his friend offered him a job doing wine tours. “Wine, a special interest subject. A subject I am very passionate about, both from a Wine Tourism and more so a consumer perspective!” Tom says with perhaps a glass of Poppies Pinot Noir in his hand! Fast forward to 2024, and Kaewa Tours cater to small, intimate groups of typically just one or two couples, often booked by visitors from the United States (50%), who are usually aged 50 plus. About 40% of bookings are coming via Viator/Trip Advisor and a strong emerging channel for bookings is via the ‘Trade sector’ (Inbound Tour Operators taking bookings from overseas Travel Agents), while other visitors are finding Kaewa Tours themselves online. The tours offered are currently all day trips, showcasing the Kāpiti Coast, Wellington, and the Wairarapa regions. The most popular tour so far is the Martinborough ‘Foodie’ tour through the South Wairarapa District followed by the Kāpiti Coast ‘Foodie’ tour featuring outstanding local Artisan producers. “The hero component is visiting Greytown Honey, where customers get to suit up and experience the life of a Bee-Keeper in a Bee-keeper suit and safely go out to a working beehive to take a close up look and see how the honey is extracted from the combs. We also visit a local cheese maker (C’est Cheese) in Featherston at the foothills of the Remutakas and head over to Martinborough for wine tastings and lunch at Poppies. We finish up with a stroll through an olive grove at either Olivo or Blue Earth Estate in Martinborough or Juno Olives in Greytown.” “On our Kāpiti Foodie tour we showcase a wide range of local Artisan producers such as the Kāpiti Chocolate Factory, The Bond Store, OLIVE OIL Beautifully hand-crafted wines from the heart of Martinborough poppiesmartinborough.co.nz Proudly Supporting Kaewa Tours The Roastery Kāpiti, Elemental Cider and Kapiti Olives who are all passionate business owners and equally passionate about the Coast.” With demand growing and the wider Wellington region expecting a large number of visitors in the 2024-25 summer season and beyond, the future looks bright for Kaewa Tours.
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