Media Release
11 December 2010

Kapiti Island Alive— a new name and amped up vision

Effective today, Kapiti Island Alive has changed its name to Kapiti Island Nature Tours to better reflect its activities and position in the nature tourism sector.

“We want to keep developing and growing, while still protecting the conservation values of Kapiti Island,” says co-owner of Kapiti Island Nature Tours, John Barrett. “And not just with the activities we offer, but also with how we interact with the communities around us and further afield.”

Mr Barrett is a board member for Nature Coast Enterprise, Chairman of Birding Tourism NZ, and a board member of Tourism New Zealand.

George Hickton, ex CEO of Tourism New Zealand says the development of Kapiti Island Nature Tours is a critical development for two reasons. “It adds a new dimension to the Nature Coast brand, and it starts to develop the full potential of Kapiti Island as the icon for the region,” he says. “The Kapiti Island experi-ence highlights how unique New Zealand was, and how it could be.”

Future plans include working with the Department of Conservation to enable appropriate growth and development of an enhanced range of visitor activities on Kapiti Island, and promoting products like the Dawn-Chorus Weekends, and Overnight Kiwi Spotting adventures.

The business works closely with the Department of Conservation to nurture and protect New Zealand’s most precious native birds, including Little Spotted Kiwi, Takahe, Weka, and Kokako.

“We’ve been quietly consolidating our tourism business since 2001,” says Mr Barrett. “Now we’re moving to the next level and stage of development to help raise the profile, national and internationally, of Kapiti Island, and the Kapiti Coast as a visitor destination.”

The name change and new website aim to capture more of the international and local market and also to express the aims of the Kaitiaki O Kapiti Trust, (Friends of Kapiti). The Trust currently runs the annual Tau Mai e Kapiti Maori Writers’ residency and Waitangi Day Celebrations.

“We will be connecting with our local community more this season,” says Mr Barrett. “We’ve made it easier to book and are making ourselves more known to them. We’re challenging local people to visit us this summer.”

Along with its new website, the company is also enhancing their social media profile including Facebook, blogging, YouTube and Twitter.

Kapiti Island Nature Tours is the only commercial operation and only accommodation on Kapiti Island. Based in Waiorua Bay at the north end of the Island, it is owned and operated by John and Susan Barrett, and Amo Clark, with Amo’s daughter Minnie Clarke running much of the day to day operations.

The business also runs nature and history tours, over night Kiwi spotting adventures, dawn chorus week-ends, and other land and marine based activities.
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