Te Kopi a Top Spot
The Department of Conservation’s Te Kopi bach at Palliser Bay has been named one of the five best state-run lodges and cabins in the world by the Guardian. “Light-filled and well equipped, the cottage and two…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
NZ a Top Foodie Destination
The past 15 years have seen a seismic shift in NZ gastro-tourism, according to Telegraph wine columnist Susy Atkins. Since her last visit in 1992, NZ has shrugged off its reputation for “unappetising food, grim…
Stonyridge a Must-see
Waiheke Island’s Stonyridge vineyard featured in the Guardian’s top ten must-visit wineries, alongside Chateau Mouton Rothschild in Bordeaux and the Frank Gehry-designed Marques de Riscal in Rioja, Spain. Guardian: “Stonyridge is a cult winery with a global…
Aotearoa on the Cheap
The Bangkok Post takes a budget tour of NZ “that in some countries could easily pass for luxury”. Spending just fifty NZ dollars a day, the travel writer visits Wellington’s Botanic Gardens, Te Papa,…
The Rings Effect Continues
NZ features in a new weekly video series on international branding practices by British marketing guru Martin Lindstrom. In Altering the Brand of a Country: How Movies Hurt Columbia and Help New Zealand, Lindstrom…
Diving’s Best Kept Secret
Jacques Cousteau named the Poor Knights Islands one of the world’s top ten dive sites and Australian travel writer Nigel Marsh agrees. Located 24km off the coastline of Tutukaka, 200km north of Auckland, the Poor Knights…
Tourism NZ Gets Googled
Tourism NZ has teamed up with Google to develop its own official ‘layer’ on Google Earth, in a world first for a tourism authority. Google Earth is a searchable tool for geographic information that combines satellite…
Matterhorn Among World’s Best
Wellington institution the Matterhorn has been named one of the world’s top five bars by respected US trade magazine, Bartender. The Cuba St local was ranked fifth behind Milk & Honey (London), Salvatore…
Blanket Bay Among World’s Best
Queenstown’s Blanket Bay Lodge has been selected as the best lodge in the world by the US Discovery Travel & Living channel. Blanket Bay will feature on Discovery’s new Five-Star Insider series alongside the world’s best…
Something for Everyone
The recent volcanic lahar at Mount Ruapehu has done nothing to put off eager skiers, from NZ or overseas. As a news.com.au article points out, visitors continued to ski and snowboard both during and immediately after the…
Planned to Perfection
The Toronto Star reports on the wonder of Victorian-era town planning that is Christchurch, NZ. Prior to its December 1850 settlement, Christchurch was designed to be a replica of the ideal English, Anglican town – right…
Queen of the Track
Current world champ Katherine Prumm enjoyed back to back wins in the opening round of the Australian Women’s Motocross Championships in Victoria. The South Auckland Kawasaki rider was her own harshest critic, claiming “I…
Substance Over Style
The Guardian’s Simon Mills is the latest travel writer to fall for Great Barrier Island’s rustic charms. Home to just 800 people, the island has no mains electricity or centralised plumbing system and once famously refused…
Being Nice Makes Business Sense
Tourism NZ has launched a new campaign encouraging Australians to travel to NZ at different times of the year. At the same time, it urges New Zealanders to ease up on the traditional taunting…
NZ Retreat in Roppongi
Tourism NZ and Air NZ are co-sponsors of the New Zealand Travel Cafe, recently opened in Tokyo’s Roppongi entertainment district. The café serves NZ burgers, beer, wine and ice cream, plays NZ music and houses a…
Food to Match the Location
Wellington restaurant Martin Bosley’s features in a guide to the Pacific region by the New York Times. Research for the guide was conducted by leading US travel authority Frommers. “Previously reserved as the…
Altitude with Attitude
Whare Kea Lodge – the “ultimate mountain hut” – featured in the Observer’s dream travel series. The luxury lodge is located at 5,600ft in the South Island’s Buchanan mountain range. Observer: “A mountain hut that mixes altitude…
Northern Delights
Vancouver’s North Shore News featured a travel special on NZ’s North Island. In the Bay of Islands, the writer used the Eagles Nest villa complex as a luxurious base for sailing with dolphins, taking bush walks and…
Premium Export
An ABC Radio report on Wellington’s Pinot Noir festival credits the grape’s – and NZ wine in general’s – explosion in popularity in the US to the success of 2004 indie film, Sideways. “We had $500 million…
Tourists Flock to Favourite Destination
According to new figures released by Statistics NZ a record 2.4 million tourists visited NZ last year – 1.6 per cent more than in 2005. The number was boosted by 903,504 Australian tourists, the most…
“A Country Waiting to be Explored”
South Africa’s Cape Times features a travel special on NZ, with a focus on Auckland and Wellington. ” is not difficult to see what makes NZ attractive, both as a holiday destination and a potential new…
Bay of Wonders
The LA Times offers a brief guide to NZ’s Bay of Islands, home to “some of the best scenery in the country.” Visitors are advised to check out the arts and crafts centres at Kerikeri, take…
Wellington: City on the Rise
Wellington has been named one of 10 world cities “on the rise” by the editors of Lonely Planet. The capital is described as “one of the world’s cold-yet-cultural cities … more beautiful than Seattle or Melbourne” in…
Safe Haven
US travel expert Laura McKenzie includes NZ in her list of the world’s five safest travel destinations. NZ is ranked second only to Monaco in a list which includes Malta, Switzerland and Singapore….
Four of the Best
Four NZ luxury establishments made the coveted Condé Nast Traveller Gold List for 2007. Huka Lodge (Taupo) and Blanket Bay (Otago) featured in the Best for Rooms and Best for Food categories respectively, while Kauri Cliffs…
Cool New Attraction
NZ is making another quality addition to its roll call of tourist attractions with the development of a state-of-the-art glacier museum on the South Island’s west coast. The NZ$6.5 million Hukawai Franz Josef Glacier…
Great Southern Land
American travel writer Marcy Barack spent Christmas with her family on the northern beaches and parks of the South Island last year. She relates the experience – location by idyllic location – in a lengthy feature…
Land of Opportunity
British citizens looking to work Down Under rushed to the Opportunities New Zealand expo held in Manchester last month. High on most people’s reasons for moving was the laidback Kiwi lifestyle – as well as low…
Beautiful on the Inside Too
Novelist Emily Perkins points out the lesser-known urban pleasures to be found in her NZ homeland in a travel feature for the Observer. It is the latest in a line of “yes, but…” travel features on NZ,…
Still the Place to Be
NZ has proven its staying power as a must-see for British tourists by winning both the Dream Destination prize at the 2006 British Travel Awards and the favourite long-haul country category in the annual Guardian…
Destination Cool
An influential UK poll has named NZ the “world’s coolest destination.” Project “CoolBrands” (widely regarded as a “cool factor” barometer), defines “brands that have become extremely desirable among many style leaders and influencers, and have a…
Not Just a Pretty Face
The Guardian urges travellers to make time for NZ’s urban centres, as well as its world-famous mountains, fjords and forests: “There are some excellent attractions, delicious restaurants, cool harbourside bars and an interesting architectural history if you…
Biggest Industry Continues to Boom
International visitors to NZ are expected to grow by 4% per annum to reach 3.1 million in 2012, according to a report by the Tourism Ministry. The main contributors to the growth are likely…
Double Dose of Glacial Magic
A Sydney Morning Herald travel writer takes in equal parts local history and jaw-dropping natural scenery at the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. “Tramping, walking and hiking have long been popular pastimes in this wildly picturesque region…
Best Western
Leading US travel site, Frommer’s, featured a lengthy write-up on the South Island’s spectacular west coast – “where there’s more to see and do than there are residents.” The writer’s comprehensive holiday includes a…
New World Order
A British travel site predicts big things for the NZ ski industry, as more and more international tourists head south for their holidays in the snow. The article focuses on Treble Cone, which has had a…
International Hot Spot
Rotorua’s Polynesian Spa was listed on the Guardian’s top 50 Best Spas. “The hot springs at Rotorua are said to cure arthritis in three months. We can’t vouch for that, but after lazing in the hot…
NZ in a Nutshell
A travel guide to NZ written for a Tennessee paper offers a brief overview of the country, focussing on geographical features and native flora and fauna. Cultural insight is offered by Travel NZ’s Bruce Lahood, who…
Slipping Into Paradise
Auckland resident and former Californian, Jeffrey Masson, a psychoanalyst and ex-projects director of the Sigmund Freud archives, publishes in August his account of emigrating to New Zealand. Slipping Into Paradise, Why I Live in New Zealand encourages…
From LA to the Bay
From Waimarama Beach to Napier, the Hawke’s Bay region gets a fantastic write up in the LA Times. The writer had organised a family holiday to her mother’s place of birth, in honour of said mother’s…
Underwater Drawcard
Wellington is adding shipwreck diving to its list of harbour-side activities, with the scuttling of a decommissioned NZ Navy frigate off Tapa Te Rangu Island. The F69 frigate is currently moored at Taranaki Wharf and will be…
Cycling the South
National Geographic Traveller editor, David Swanson, takes in the spectacular alpine scenery – and some icy cold Speights – on a two-week bike tour of the South Island. ” rain stopped, and the world went almost silent….
Coromandel by Kombi
A tour of the Coromandel by Kombi with husband and toddler in tow turned out to be remarkably relaxing for the Guardian’s Jane White. The high point of the trip was a week spent in Hahei,…
Slip Away
NZ’s Slipper Island features in a Guardian list hailing the world’s top 5 exotic escapes. “On a private island off the Coromandel Peninsula you can swim off the white-sand beach and fish for snapper. Stay in…
NZ to North America
New Zealand Magazine was launched in the North American market on the 16th of September. The brainchild of Auckland-based American Kiwi Marty Behrens, New Zealand magazine presents an intelligent and sophisticated view of this country to North…
Aotearoa: The People’s Choice
NZ has been voted the best country in the world and overall winner of the 2005 Condé Nast Traveller Awards in the UK. “The result is gratifying not just because of the win, but because the…
Best Put to the Test
Travel & Leisure writer sniffs out the best luxury retreats in NZ – a country where “everyone is a hotelier, or so it can sometimes seem.” After testing the waters at Eagle’s Nest (Russell), Otahuna Lodge…
Top 10 for 100%
New Zealand has ranked 10th in an index of the strongest brands in the world compiled by marketing research firms Anholt-GMI. New Zealand had positive brand values and managed, like Ireland which came 13th,…
San Fran Success Story
NZ company Holmes Culley has won the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC) Award for Best Retrofit Project Using Conventional Technology for its strengthening work on San Francisco Piers 1½, 3 and 5. Zander Sirvyer headed…
Triumph of Nature
Cairo magazine writer admires NZ’s greatest natural resource – the landscape itself – in a hiking tour of NZ. “Once we finally got it was easy to imagine what it had once…
Hot Spots Outed
“Scenic, comfortable and tolerant, NZ has always been an attractive destination for gay and lesbian travellers. In recent times things have been getting even better, with gay venues and activities popping up like drag queens in a…
View to a Thrill
San Francisco Chronicle travel writer recommends Wellington’s Rawhiti B&B. “On a recent trip to New Zealand, I discovered a wonderful bed and breakfast very close to the centre of Wellington. Rawhiti, a former family home, has fabulous…
More than just a pretty face
“Ah, NZ. Land of outdoor beauty, fresh air, long walks over rugged terrain – but, come on, do you really want to fly halfway around the world for something you could find in Cornwall?” The Guardian…
Earthly Paradise
A South African couple take a tour NZ by campervan, pronouncing it “Eden on Earth.” Highlights include the Moeraki Boulders at Omaru, Lanarch Castle, Franz Josef Glacier, Tongariro National Park, Sandspit and the Waipoua Forest.
“The Quintessential NZ Bolthole”
Australian Harpers Bazaar visits the infamous cinematograper Michael Seresin’s “little slice of secluded wilderness” in its regular ‘Personal Space’ section. Located in Waterfall Bay, Marlborough Sounds, Seresin’s some-time abode is anything but little, comprising…
Sail Away
The Age showcases five of the best NZ cruises on offer; Milford Sound, Hole in the Rock (Bay of Islands), Lake Wakitipu, Inter-Islander crossing, and the Doubtful Sound overnight cruise.
