Waimarino Celebrates

Waimarino Celebrates

20/10/2015

Immediate release

Waimarino Adventure Park is preparing to celebrate its 40th anniversary as one of the Bay of Plenty’s region’s leading kayaking and tourism ventures.

The family-owned Park on the Wairoa River near Bethlehem was established in the mid-70’s by Barry and Barbara Anderson, whose successful vision was to teach kayaking to people of all ages.

Director Blair Anderson took over Waimarino with his wife Charlotte in 2003 and the park “is now a very different place.”

“When my parents started, Waimarino had six kayaks and a small wooden shed, and since then we’ve opened up new ventures and expanded the grounds, introducing exciting new ways to have fun with the sport of kayaking,” he says.

Mr Anderson says Waimarino has grown to a multi-faceted venture with 160 kayaks and 30-plus staff, which now provides after school and holiday programmes and a beautiful riverside wedding facility.

“It’s quite gratifying that we’ve had several generations of local people through Waimarino now – some started by learning kayaking with my father Barry as kids and have now come back here to get married.

“Waimarino is now one of the biggest and best known tourism activity providers in the Tauranga region, and quite quickly fulfilling our dream of becoming the best of its kind in the country,” he says.

Over the past year (ending June 2015) visitor numbers grew by 15% with more than 20,000 people enjoying the Adventure Park – a 15 percent increase on the year before.

Waimarino kayak tours, run in both Tauranga and Rotorua, also showed a 33% increase to 3000 clients who came in search of “a soft adventure experience – aware of our strong record for very satisfied customers.”

Mr Anderson says that factors in this business growth have included a booming international tourism market, “and the effort we’ve put into marketing Waimarino both in New Zealand and international markets.”

Over the past year he and Marketing Manager Sam Cameron had attended over 20 trade shows and events throughout New Zealand, Australia and French Polynesia to promote the company as widely as possible.

Waimarino expects another busy summer again this year “and we’ve put a lot into staff training, including river rescues, climbing wall practice, and customer service training to ensure customers receive the best experience possible,” Ms Cameron says.

The Park’s newest facility, the wedding venue called Waverly on Wairoa, was opened in 2012 and so far 38 happy couples have tied the knot, including Ellen and Brendan from More FM’s Kids ‘Choose the Wedding’ promotion last month.

“This wedding season is shaping up to be another big one for us, and we’re seeing a lot of businesses coming in to use our venue for their Christmas functions and other events,” Ms Cameron says. The venue had also proved popular for a range of other activities – more than 60 conferences and other events had been held there.

To celebrate Waimarino’s 40th anniversary the Adventure Park is celebrating with lots of specials and promotions over the holiday weekend.

“We hope that locals will come and help us celebrate bringing great outdoor fun to the Bay of Plenty over four decades – there will be lots of specials and promotions so please come and join us for a great family day out.”

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