Real Journeys
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| Private | |
| Industry | Tourism, Travel |
| Founded | 1954 |
| Founder | Sir Les & Olive Lady Hutchins |
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Area served
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Te Anau, Queenstown, Stewart Island, Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound, Wanaka, Christchurch |
| Website | realjourneys |
Real Journeys is a major South Island and New Zealand award winning tourism company, privately owned by the Hutchins family since 1954. It operates world renowned cruises in Milford and Doubtful Sounds, the legendary vintage steamship TSS Earnslaw on Lake Wakatipu, the Te Anau-au glowworm caves, Stewart Island ferry services, excursions and lodge accommodation as well as Cardrona Alpine Resort and the International Antarctic Centre and is recognised as one of the most influential contributors to the country’s international tourism profile.
Founders Sir Les and Olive Lady Hutchins originally established the Manapouri-Doubtful Sound Tourist Company and later purchased Fiordland Travel in 1966 which was rebranded in 2002 as Real Journeys.
The early focus was on tourist boating and cruising enterprises on Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau, Lake Wakatipu, Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound. However in the 1980s both a luxury coach passenger service and a flightseeing air service, between Queenstown and Milford, were introduced signalling the company’s innovative and entrepreneurial stance.
Real Journeys, also highly respected for its commitment to many conservation projects in the southern region, has diversified and expanded its tourist interests in recent years.
The purchase of the prominent Cardrona Alpine Resort ski area in 2013 is one of its most significant acquisitions. The ski area recorded its best season on record in 2016 influenced by Real Journeys’ continued investment in facilities and infrastructure.
The group of companies owned by Real Journeys include the Stewart Island Experience launched in 2004 and Wild Kiwi Encounter, operated as a joint tourism venture with the Rakiura Maori Lands Trust, which was purchased in 2016. Christchurch’s International Antarctic Centre was added to the stable in 2015 and Queenstown Rafting, in which Real Journeys had been a 50% partner since 1996, was bought outright in 2016 along with the company’s associate coach services company Kiwi Discovery.
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Wikipedia