December update

December 2008

Since our USA and Netherlands trip in May, I have been following up on the contacts made when visiting previous guests on our tours which resulted in several bookings with some for 2010 already.
I also spend time mentoring other tourism businesses in the Nelson area on a voluntary basis (www.businessmentors.org.nz) (www.ntbt.co.nz) and I have put in some groundwork on my tourism consulting business
(www.nztourismconsulting.co.nz) email: consult@nztourismconsulting.co.nz
which I intend to activate more in the next off season.

Michelle (17) had an eventful year at her last year at Garin College, and becoming a world Champion Youth Entrepreneur.
(www.globalenterprisechallenge.com)
She won, with her New Zealand team, the Global Enterprise Challenge 2008, in conjunction with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise held over the weekend in Auckland. Team New Zealand presented their ‘Lillypod’ Business idea, Business Plan and oral presentation beating 20 other participating countries (including Australia, USA, England, Germany, Japan, Korea) to win this prestigious title. She is off to University in February.

On the global economy, I wrote a column for our local Nelson newspaper, capping it off with: “In my view, a lot of what is happening is corrections and adjustments to unrealistic good years of extraordinary growth. It is time to get creative and explore new opportunities. Remember that every downturn will be followed by an upswing. Make the present problem a solution or opportunity, and balance realism with optimism”


Christmas was a quiet affair with the rest of the family in the cold and snowy USA for a family visit and I preparing the busy season, as well as being on tour now.

New Year’s will be on the road with guests in Napier, where we will have a unique dining experience.