WHEN BUSINESS IS A TRAILBLAZING ADVENTURE
NICK WHITE’S BUSINESS JOURNEY HAS SPANNED THE SOUTH AMERICAN CONTINENT, AND MORE RECENTLY THE MAGNIFICENT WIDE-OPEN SPACES OF CENTRAL OTAGO. WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF ADVENTURE TOURISM.
Nick White’s business journey has spanned the South American continent and more recently magnificent Central Otago. Welcome to the world of adventure tourism.
In 1999 26-year old Nick White resigned from his Dunedin job, rented his house, and spent the next year travelling the length of South America and learning Spanish. A Canadian company employed him to guide small tour groups throughout the continent, and he subsequently set up two of his own companies, with tours extending as far and wide as the Galapagos Islands, Peru, Brazil and Ecuador.
Eventually the call of home became too loud to ignore and in 2016 he sold up and returned to New Zealand with his Swiss partner Andrea.
“We already had a four- bedroom lodge on the Otago Rail Trail – Tiger Hill Lodge – which I built in 2004 in partnership with my mother,” says Nick. “I started operating smallgroup, customised, active itineraries, mainly throughout Otago. Then in 2018 I bought Luxury Rail Trail
Tours and expanded that business to offer unique cycling- based travel experiences along the Otago Rail Trail. I’m also in the process of expanding to other trails in Otago and Fiordland.”
The couple have also opened a luxury homestay lodge near Saint Bathans, which doubles as their home.
“It’s where we host our personal guests who enjoy cycling and other experiences with us,” says Nick. “Experiences that take in local sights as well as locally sourced food and beverages.”
His South American business ventures taught him a lot about business management and marketing – particularly around perseverance and the need to maintain good networks.
“You definitely learn more from your failures than you do from your successes,” he says. “Success can be a lousy teacher.”
Nick says taking on debt to buy and develop Luxury Rail Trail Tours proved a real motivator, and he’s been
careful to surround himself with the right business advisors, including coach Richard Poole, and the Auckland-based Icehouse Business Growth Centre.
The business has gone from strength to strength, and Nick is grateful that to a large degree it is insulated from the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak because his clients are predominantly Australians and
New Zealanders. He says he caters for the premium market – people looking for authentic experiences away from the usual beaten tourist track.
When Nzbusiness spoke to Nick in late February, business bookings were strong for the next few months, right through to Queens Birthday weekend. (Bookings were subsequently impacted by the lockdown – Ed.)
He was out and about working from his van, with iphone and laptop, keeping on top of enquiries.
“Andrea’s in charge of all the backend,” he explains. “That’s accounts, operations and logistics. We’re [ both] having to be jacks of all trades.”
QUALITY NOT QUANTITY
Having witnessed the ‘ Wild West’ nature of the South American tourism industry, and the impact of too many visitors and not enough regulations there, Nick has strong views around capping the numbers of tourists to popular New Zealand destinations. He believes it’s very much a question of “quality over quantity and spreading people away from the hotspots”.
“This freedom camping nonsense has to stop, because no [camping spot] should be free. We have an obligation to look after the environment, because that’s New Zealand’s big selling point.
“It’s about spreading the love,”
Nick continues. “We need to direct people to other parts of the country and not saturate places like Rotorua, Queenstown and Milford Sound. It just requires better leadership from the top.”
BUSINESS ADVICE
Nick is looking forward to the day when he can bring on a full- time employee and start working on the business, not in it. Business planning can be a challenge, he admits. “You’ve always got to be reassessing what you’re doing and rewriting your business plans. I know what I’ve got to do, it’s just about finding the time to do it.”
For now, he’s confident that he’ll be in a better position next season to employ someone and move the business forward.
He believes the key to business success is through solid finance management, good objective advisers and perseverance.
“The first two years will always be tough, but you’ve just got to roll your sleeves up, have realistic expectations and hang in there.”
As for marketing, the plan is relatively simple. Nick contracts out his website optimisation and social media marketing, and he says there’s hardly a day goes by without at least one word- of- mouth enquiry coming in through someone who has experienced one of their backcountry trailbike adventures.
“Once you’ve shown people a good time, it’s great if you can keep them in that circle of trust,” he says.
The plan going forward is to work on “getting bums on seats” for the off- months of October, November and early December; introducing more e- bikes, and developing more Central Otago and South Island cycle trails.
However, as busy as he is, Nick is still keen to allocate some time for indulging in his passion of kitesurfing. He’s looking forward to his annual pilgrimage back to Brazil later this year, where kitesurfing is “a religion”. And you can bet he won’t be making the journey on his own. – he’s hosting a small group of kitesurfers to help cover his costs.
Which just goes to prove that once you have that travel guide bug – it stays with you forever.
“THE FIRST TWO YEARS WILL ALWAYS BE TOUGH, BUT YOU’VE JUST GOT TO ROLL YOUR SLEEVES UP, HAVE REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS AND HANG IN THERE.”