The best of NZ tourism in 2024: No wonder everyone wants to visit us

The best tourist attractions in New Zealand include The Landing. Photo / Supplied
If you want to feel (even more) proud of Aotearoa, take a look at the finalists for this year’s New Zealand Tourism Awards – every one championing enjoyable, sustainable and forward-thinking initiatives to bolster NZ experiences, culture and home-grown talent, Ewan McDonald
Wayfinder Community Engagement Award 2024
Aotearoa is littered with mountains, bridges, cliffs and plenty of other things that were put there to jump off, bike through, zipline over and we’ve pretty much perfected these, and other ways, to enjoy – or scare – ourselves and our visitors.
In the Port Hills, the 358ha Christchurch Adventure Park features a 1.8km chairlift climbing 435m, almost 60 bike trails totalling 60km, four ziplines – two of them 1km long, day hikes and easier ambles, and a 1200-seat restaurant.
Judges commended the park’s sustainability and environmental practices including stream remediation, planting days, predator control, biodiversity enhancement and providing a platform for youth restorative justice programmes.
READ MORE: What do foreign visitors really think of Christchurch?
Wayfinder Community Engagement Award 2024
In 1998 iFly pioneered technology that made human flight a reality. Since then the Queenstown attraction has flown more than 8 million people on a wall-to-wall cushion of air on which anyone can float, nothing attaching them to the planet.
In 2021 the team embarked on a social project to show business could deliver social benefits. Some 460 Year 7-8 students from across the district have attended the iFLY Whakamana Youth Programme, an uplifting experience for rangatahi to grow confidence and support wellbeing.
Wayfinder Community Engagement Award 2024; Toroa ā-uta, Toroa ā-tai Māori Tourism Award 2024
Brothers Takurua and Tuhua Mutu’s Tohu Experiences has been presenting bespoke, luxury experiences and events in the Rotorua region since 1989. These range from a Tarawera heli-hike to Ōkere Waterfall rafting and cultural, cuisine and sightseeing opportunities.
“The Tohu Experiences whānau was born from an ethos of ensuring that every experience is always about people. Our professional and personable crew follow traditional Māori values of kaitiakitanga (guardians of place and people), manaakitanga (building integrity and strength in each other), whanaungatanga (creating lasting relationships with all those whose paths we cross) and kotahitanga (coming together and moving forward as one),” the brothers say.
Wayfinder Community Engagement Award 2024
Tūhura Otago Museum has made significant impact in its community – and a wider audience – with its commitment to education, culture and engagement. It expects to hit 400,000 visitors this year – 100,000 up on last year – and educates more than 37,000 children across the motu and the Pacific through formal programmes each year.
NZME Visitor Experience Award 2024; Johnston’s Coachlines Tourism Excellence Award (Large Business) 2024; Booking.com Resilience and Innovation Award 2024
Since commencing tours in 2002, the Hobbiton Movie Set has provided an enchanting slice of Middle-earth, welcoming more than 4.5 million guests from around the world to the rolling Waikato hills.
The site has continuously invested in new offerings and refined services based on visitor feedback. Judges noted the progression from a quirky experience to a “machine that constantly tunes itself up – a tour-de-force in terms of New Zealand tourism experience”.
NZME Visitor Experience Award 2024
New Zealand Trails is a Kiwi-owned and operated adventure tourism company operating out of Arrowtown and offering multi-day tours exploring the outdoors with local guides.
Judges rated it highly, saying the operation was “very clearly guest-oriented and responsive to feedback. This company champions everything New Zealand.”
NZME Visitor Experience Award 2024; Tourism Industry Aotearoa Tourism Excellence Award (Small-Medium Business)
Te Pā Tū – previously Tamaki Māori Village – is the country’s most awarded cultural attraction. Under Tauhara North Trust, it presents culture and kai events – sharing Māori history, traditions and aspirations – through four hours of celebration and feasting at the pā, surrounded by 200-year-old tawa forest near Rotorua.
Previous winner of the resilience and innovation award, Te Pā Tū is one of four finalists in the NZME Visitor Experience Award – an experience heightened by actively reducing the number of participants.
NZME Visitor Experience Award 2024
The Landing, on a 400ha property outside Kerikeri, offers a premium experience through four residences nestled in coastal scenery. The estate has been developed to protect 43 registered archaeological sites and 5km of coastline and restored bush, home to kiwi and other native birds.
Tourism Talent Employer of Choice Award 2024; Johnston’s Coachlines Tourism Excellence Award (Large Business) 2024; Booking.com Resilience and Innovation Award 2024
GO Rentals was born as a small family business and has grown to more than 200 staff around the country and overseas. Every team member in the vehicle hire business operates under the same values: mana tangata (respecting each other); whanaungatanga (working together); being innovative, achieving excellence and service first.
Tourism Talent Employer of Choice Award 2024
One of the country’s most beloved tourist attractions, Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa makes a splash for another reason: prioritising the wellbeing and hauora of staff brings a nomination for the Tourism Talent Employer of Choice Award.
The North Canterbury team’s recent initiatives include a new people and culture strategy, an updated health and wellbeing programme and an employee recognition initiative.
Tourism Talent Employer of Choice Award 2024; Tātaki Auckland Unlimited Tourism Excellence Award (Micro Business); Toroa ā-uta, Toroa ā-tai Māori Tourism Award 2024; Tourism Industry New Zealand Trust Industry Collaboration and Alignment Award 2024
Whānau-owned Kohutapu Lodge and Tribal Tours turns on more than the Rotovegas-style dinner and a dance show. Guests are immersed in a modern Māori community and it is funding dozens of community initiatives.
“We’ve always just called it ‘real people tourism’,” co-owner Nadine ToeToe explained to the BBC. “If you want a show, stay in the main centres. If you want a day in the life to understand our people, then haere mai whānau: you’re welcome to come into our home and our community.”
They might find themselves helping cook hāngī before distributing it to needy locals; sitting down for tea with kaumātua at the marae; forest bathing amid primeval trees and bush or learning to eel in the river. Accommodation ranges from basic cabins to a plush five-bedroom house.
Tourism Talent Employer of Choice Award 2024
Whether you’re a golfer or simply a seeker of award-winning spas and dining experiences, Millbrook Resort in Queenstown is the perfect venue, with views to die for. There’s golf coaching on offer, a tennis court and 25m indoor heated swimming pool as well as saunas, outdoor spa pools and a hot tub for relaxation.
Tātaki Auckland Unlimited Tourism Excellence Award (Micro Business) 2024
Regarded a model business for Tourism NZ’s “Leading the world in Sustainable Tourism” programme, Taupō’s Huka Falls River Cruises operates its purpose-designed and built boat along the Waikato River to the famed waterfalls, a “real New Zealand experience” of calm, clear waters, birdlife, bush-lined riverbanks and natural hot streams.
Tātaki Auckland Unlimited Tourism Excellence Award (Micro Business) 2024
Gabrielle Young’s Terra and Tide is an eco-tourism business on Waiheke Island, with 12 staff providing a number of themed land- and marine-based tours. Founded in 2016, Terra and Tide aims to be a leading regenerative tourism business in the Auckland region and nationally and has increased its guest numbers while keeping visitor feedback consistently high.
Tātaki Auckland Unlimited Tourism Excellence Award (Micro Business) 2024
If you’re looking for a tourism micro-business, you can’t go past a one-woman brand. Recognised as one of four finalists for the Tātaki Auckland Unlimited Tourism Excellence (Micro Business) Award, Marie Haley co-opts Akaroa and Banks Peninsula’s nature, history and cultures into her vision, The Seventh Generation.
Drawing from her background as a descendant of local families, wildlife ranger and wildside co-ordinator, she creates tailored tours celebrating the region’s lengthy and unique story and cultures, land and marine wildlife, sustainable lifestyles, regenerating landscapes and promoting an ethical future.
Tourism Industry Aotearoa Tourism Excellence Award (Small-Medium Business) 2024
Rotorua’s most active geothermal reserve, Hell’s Gate is the only place in Aotearoa where visitors can soak and relax in an outdoor mud bath, used by generations of Māori to ease joint and muscle pain.
They can get down and dirty in a mud bath or unwind in a sulphur spa overlooking the geothermal landscape before cooling off in a spring-fed waterfall and cold plunge pool.
Also known as Tikitere, Hell’s Gate also features the country’s largest mud volcano and the Southern Hemisphere’s largest hot waterfall, tours around 20ha of erupting waters, coloured pools, hot water lakes, bubbling mud, steaming cliffs, sulphur crystals and land coral, and bush walks.
Tourism Industry Aotearoa Tourism Excellence Award (Small-Medium Business); Booking.com Resilience and Innovation Award 2024
Hot pools normally take millions of years to form. Not the ones in Methven, at Ōpuke Thermal Pools and Spa. Harnessing the power of the sun and 500 solar panels, they are located at the foot of Mt Hutt. An ideal place for summer hikers and winter skiers to soak their lumbago, the alpine setting is pretty unique. Divided into the Discovery and Tranquility pools, half of Ōpuke is dedicated to family groups with the other reserved for spa guests. Private solar hot tubs and a swim-up bar set it apart from others.
Tourism Industry Aotearoa Tourism Excellence Award (Small-Medium Business)
Ziptrek Ecotours is Queenstown’s first net-zero carbon tourism business – a multi-award-winning operator delivering sustainability stories with a healthy dose of ziplining adventure.
On iconic Bob’s Peak, guests zipline through forest with views of Lake Whakatipu and the Remarkables as guides deliver explanations while taking on the treehouse decks between ziplines.
Johnston’s Coachlines Tourism Excellence Award (Large Business) 2024
For Discover Waitomo, operator and kaitiaki of the Waitomo, Ruakuri and Aranui caves, the district is more than deep holes and glow worms – it’s a cultural hub rich in Māori myths and legends with practical learning experiences in history, geology and biology that can’t be found in the classroom.
Johnston’s Coachlines Tourism Excellence Award (Large Business) 2024; KiwiRail Tourism Environment Award 2024
RealNZ’s purpose is to “help the world fall in love with conservation through extraordinary experiences in nature.”
The company has remained true to that mantra since its 1954 founding by conservation pioneers Les and Lady Olive Hutchins. In its early days, Fiordland National Park came under threat from the proposed raising of Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau for power generation, which would have decimated unique landscapes and natural habitats.
The couple joined a hard-fought campaign; the successful Save Manapouri campaign has often been called “the birth of the conservation movement in New Zealand.” RealNZ continues to invest in many conservation activities across southern New Zealand.
KiwiRail Tourism Environment Award 2024
We’ve all heard about the Silicon Valley tech billionaires who buy up land around Queenstown and build hideaway mansions with panic rooms waiting for the end of days. Here’s the one about the tech billionaire couple who already had a home on Lake Whakatipu and turned a Kiwi campground into a futuristic eco-lodge designed to prolong life on Earth as we know it.
Paul Brainerd, who marketed PageMaker and coined the term ‘desktop publishing’, and wife Debbi were happily retired from Seattle and chilling at their Glenorchy holiday home when Debbi saw the For Sale sign outside the village campsite and general store.
These have been re-imagined as The Headwaters – a range of environmentally sustainable businesses including the Headwaters Eco Lodge, New Zealand’s only net-zero accommodation. The 14 chalets produce more energy and water than they use, with rooftop solar water heaters and a solar garden. In winter heat pumps draw warmth from 23 underground wells.
Rainwater runs off roofs into underground cisterns, and there’s a community composting system. The property uses recycled wood from old stockyards, rusted corrugated iron and local art.
KiwiRail Tourism Environment Award 2024
Over the past 12 months, Wellington Airport has reported outstanding results in reducing its environmental footprint and is on track to achieve net-zero emissions for its operations by 2028, two years ahead of schedule. The airport has hosted the first trial of hydrogen at a New Zealand airport and recently welcomed its first shipment of sustainable aviation fuel.
KiwiRail Tourism Environment Award 2024
Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne, the 225ha eco-sanctuary in the heart of Wellington, offers a unique and immersive nature destination, flourishing with rare native species. Guests experience interactive exhibits and wildlife spotting. The reserve is sustained through regenerative tourism and community spirit, with more than 500 volunteers. Because of Zealandia, Wellington is one of the only cities in the world where bird biodiversity is increasing.
Toroa ā-uta, Toroa ā-tai Māori Tourism Award 2024
Appreciate a tour guide with local knowledge? They don’t come much more qualified than John Barrett, director, cook, boatie, tour guide and kaitiaki of Kāpiti Island Nature Tours. With 40-plus years in the game, his whānau business is one of only two companies permitted to take visitors to the country’s oldest nature reserve on the island, a 20-minute boat ride from Paraparaumu, north of Wellington.
Toroa ā-uta, Toroa ā-tai Māori Tourism Award 2024
Based in the Bay of Plenty, Tio Ōhiwa Harbour Cruise & Oyster Experience showcases the local iwi’s rich heritage, blending storytelling, traditional practices and environmental stewardship to create culturally authentic visitor experiences. Judges commended the leadership, watercare procedures and positive impacts on whānau/hapū relations in this emerging tourism business.
Tourism Industry New Zealand Trust Industry Collaboration and Alignment Award 2024
The Hotel Britomart in Auckland, New Zealand’s first 5 Green Star-rated hotel, designed to embody sustainable luxury, made by local artisans. The restaurant, kingi, focuses on premium, sustainable, seasonal seafood and game. All profits from kingi are invested in LegaSea, a trust for New Zealand’s marine environment.
Tourism Industry New Zealand Trust Industry Collaboration and Alignment Award 2024
Tāpoi Te Moananui ā Toi Tourism Bay of Plenty is recognised for two initiatives. Flavours of Plenty, the region’s culinary tourism strategy, has grown into a foodie community, funding platform and annual food festival. The Green Room Te Rūma Kākāriki has assisted 100 operators and sector organisations to become more environmentally, socially, culturally and financially sustainable.
Booking.com Resilience and Innovation Award 2024
LyLo’s three New Zealand sites – Auckland, Christchurch and Queenstown – offer savvy, cost-conscious travellers multi-purpose spaces to play, eat, work, and sleep. The hotels boast a mix of personal boutique sleeping pods, double rooms with shared bathrooms, private en suite rooms and family rooms.
Auckland Airport Tourism Industry Champion Award 2024
Gavin Faull is chairman and president of Swiss-Belhotel International, with sons Matthew, Oliver and Edward as his right-hand men, along with Hong Kong business partners.
Swiss-Belhotel International operates in 20 countries, managing a diverse portfolio of over 135 hotels, resorts, and projects across Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Middle East, and Africa. The group delivers comprehensive development and management services.
Faull grew up in the settlement of Tikorangi, north of New Plymouth, and has admitted thinking he would end up working in a grocery store and drive a delivery van like his dad.
“That was not attractive to me, so I thought I should go out and do something else. It was good growing up out there – it’s the home of opportunity, makes you want to get out and do something else.”
Faull has said the important thing in the hotel industry is to understand the guests and what they want. “They have to leave with a positive attitude. It all comes down to service. Service is key. Management is key. It’s the people that make it.”
Auckland Airport Tourism Industry Champion Award 2024
David Kennedy, general manager of the International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch, has more than 30 years in the industry, including regional tourism organisations. “He has been a passionate advocate for building high-performing teams dedicated to delivering exceptional tourism experiences.”
Auckland Airport Tourism Industry Champion Award 2024
Nadine ToeToe of Kohutapu Lodge & Tribal Tours has more than 25 years in the industry. See above to read how ToeToe has shaped Kohutapu Lodge & Tribal Tours into the success story it is today.
Akiaki Emerging Tourism Leader Award 2024
Charlotte Laurentin leads a team of 20 as the front office manager at Millbrook Resort. She rebuilt the team post-Covid and has led initiatives such as development of an e-commerce platform for digital gift cards and launching ‘surprise and delight’ guest experiences.
Akiaki Emerging Tourism Leader Award 2024
Anne Newman, general manager of Christchurch Adventure Park, came into the industry later in life, bringing a fresh approach and experience in business.
Akiaki Emerging Tourism Leader Award 2024
James Stokes began his tourism career as a pilot, showing off the Southern Lakes region to the world. In 2019 he became managing director of Glenorchy Air and revolutionising the sector in his region.
Akiaki Emerging Tourism Leader Award 2024
An advocate for blending technology, creativity and passionate people, Zac Watson, general manager of Maverick Digital Tourism Marketing, has launched various initiatives for tourism businesses over the past nine years.
The 2024 winners will be announced at the New Zealand Tourism Awards Dinner on November 6, 2024, at Cordis Auckland, following Tourism Summit Aotearoa.
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