When: Tuesday, 1 September, 2.00pm - 6.00pm
Where: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 128 Albert Street, Auckland CBD
The annual Taupō Product Showcase — hosted by Destination Great Lake Taupō (DGLT) — brought 24 tourism businesses to Auckland to meet travel trade buyers and frontline travel agents on Tuesday, 1 September.
The travel showcase, which took place at Auckland’s Crowne Plaza Hotel, is a business-to-business event where the tourism businesses promote their product to potential travel buyers, engage with travel media and network with other tourism professionals.
Participating businesses — representing tourism activities, tours, transport and accommodation — included some exciting new products and operators who are new to marketing fully trade commissionable products through travel sellers.
Organiser Géraldine Morisse — Trade & Partnerships Executive at Destination Great Lake Taupō — said it was exciting to see a growing number of 24 operators (up from 18 in 2025) participating in the Showcase.
New products on show included a new luxury villa, a walking tour, and a new jet boat experience. It was also a great opportunity to introduce AWA — the new story and rebranding of Rapids Jet — and two first-time participants including the new owners of Huka Falls River Cruise - Loftus and Taylah - and Lloyd of Sail Barbary.
The showcase’s primary target was ITOs (inbound tour operators) — mainly product managers and travel consultants who are experts in selling New Zealand to their trade distribution partners (B2B) or directly to consumers (B2C), Morisse said. The 140-plus attendees registered also included Tourism New Zealand representatives and travel media.
“Our showcase brings together several opportunities. It’s a market, a trade show, a training opportunity and a networking opportunity all rolled into one,” Destination Great Lake Taupō General Manager Patrick Dault said.
“We want to create passionate advocates for the Taupō region and our products. By growing product awareness and knowledge, we’re supporting and equipping agents to better sell our region, always with the aim of increasing share of total visitor nights and continued growth of international visitor spend.”
“The informal free-flow format is basically a talkfest aimed at increasing awareness of the huge variety of tourism products on sale in the Taupō region, and developing the agents’ knowledge, ability and enthusiasm to sell Taupō. Ultimately, we expect to see some worthwhile business opportunities come out of this occasion, if not on the day but through making these key connections.”
The afternoon programme concluded with a prize giving, drinks and canapes.
The operators attending:
- Adrift Tongariro
- AJ Hackett Taupō Bungy & Swing
- AWA
- Chris Jolly Outdoors
- Escape Aviation
- FourB Bike
- Hilton Lake Taupō
- Huka Falls River Cruise
- Little Haven
- Luxury Villas of New Zealand
- Millennium Hotel and Resort Manuels Taupō
- MyStays
- Orakei Korako Cave and Thermal Park
- Ready2roll Tours and Transfers
- Sail Barbary
- Suncourt
- Taupō Sailing Adventures
- Taupō Sculpture Trust
- Taupō Tandem Skydiving
- Tongariro Lodge
- Venture Beyond
- Wairakei Resort Taupō
- Whakapapa Holdings Limited.
