Award for Ziptrek founder
QUEENSTOWN entrepreneur Trent Yeo, who founded Ziptrek Ecotours 10 years ago, has won the emerging tourism leader award at the New Zealand Tourism Awards.
Mr Yeo (44) was responsible for bringing ziplining to New Zealand, establishing the venture in Queenstown and becoming an advocate for sustainability in tourism.
Ziplining takes participants on a forest journey incorporating a series of observation platforms and flying foxes, which operate on cables running between treetop platforms.
Between flying foxes, guides offer an interpretive adventure with a strong ecological focus and it attracts about 30,000 visitors a year.
Mr Yeo received the PATA New Zealand Trust emerging tourism leader award at a function in Christchurch on Thursday night. The tourism awards were run by Tourism Industry Aotearoa.
From a ChineseMalaysian background, Mr Yeo grew up in Australia and studied architecture at Deakin University, in Victoria.
Then he found himself in Canada working as a guide at Ziptrek’s flagship location in the resort town of Whistler.
He spent four years overcoming challenges and investigating possibilities of developing the concept in New Zealand and launched the country’s first zipline tour business in 2009.
The award’s citation said Mr Yeo was a strong sustainability advocate. He held several governance roles and was a regular speaker on sustainability, education, tourism and entrepreneurship.
His thoughtleadership and contribution to the wider industry marked him out as a future industry leader.
Mr Yeo said the value he brought to the wider tourism industry was as a generalist, a collaborator and with connections outside tourism.
‘‘I’m optimistic and macrofocused, simultaneously patient and impatient about delivering with more impact.’’
Mr Yeo acknowledged that when he first started in tourism, he was not sure what he was letting himself in for. Now he felt embedded.
Setting up any business was a gamble but he believed strongly that other people would also appreciate the value, not just about being a good business — ‘‘that’s not enough’’ — but about being a good citizen while being in business.
He was excited about the future of Ziptrek Ecotours, particularly over the next two years as there were ‘‘a lot of projects in the pipeline’’ which would hopefully be revealed next year.
Nothing would change about its values and fundamentally what the business did but the changes would take it to ‘‘a whole new level’’.
Mr Yeo also loved living in Queenstown — ‘‘it’s my home and I’m not going anywhere,’’ he said.
He was keen to see some more young people coming through the ranks of the tourism industry, he said.
Former Tourism Central Otago general manager Glenys Coughlan received the Horwath HTL Sir Jack Newman outstanding industry leader award. Ms Coughlan moved from Wellington to Central Otago in 2016, when she was appointed general manager of the Central Otago Winegrowers Association.
Born and raised in Dunedin, her interest in the tourism industry was kindled when a scholarship took her to Hawaii to complete a master’s degree in geography, focusing on environmental management.
She has been chief executive of the New Zealand Tourism Industry Association, chief executive of Positively Wellington Venues, a director of Te Papa and Tourism New Zealand, chairwoman of Positively Wellington Tourism and a member of the foundation board of Grow Wellington.
She joined the Central Otago District Council in the latter part of 2016, as general manager for Tourism Central Otago.
Her initial task was to develop a new longterm tourism strategy for the region which was finalised late last year.
Central Otago District Council chief executive Sanchia Jacobs said Ms Coughlan — who resigned earlier this year for health reasons — had a ‘‘massive impact’’ on the future of tourism in the district.
Skyline Queenstown won the Westpac Economic Success Award and the Air New Zealand supreme tourism award went to Sudima Hotels.