Leisure Time Group has made two prominent appointments in its business events brands, Lime & Soda and Vokali.

Amanda Graham is business development manager – MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and events) and Amelia Lowe is an incentive and event manager.

Lime & Soda’s general manager, and former owner, Debra Dufty will be finishing in her role by the end of this year after assisting in the business transition following Leisure Time Group’s

Leisure Time Travel representatives will be ‘on the road’ over the next couple of weeks distributing and promoting the company’s largest domestic offering in its 35 year history.

‘We wanted to provide some serious collateral that agents can get their teeth into, so a huge amount of what’s in the brochure is new,’ says Scott Mehrtens, Leisure Time’s managing director.

Lesiure Time is promoting a range of tours in New Zealand that incorporate special interest themes. These include gardening, walking and wine and cuisine through to aviation, rail, agriculture and small boat experiences.

Vicki Annison, sales and marketing manager with Leisure Time Travel says the bespoke tours give definite opportunities to the trade.

Leisure Time Travel is promoting a five day Coromandel Sights and Beaches tour mid April.

Leisure Time’s marketing manager Vicki Annison says the itinerary from 13 to 17 April, takes in the Rapaura Water Gardens, Driving Creek Railway, Matarangi, Buffalo Beach, Whitianga, Cathedral Cove, Hot Water Beach and Whangamata.

Tweaking the brand to reflect a more diverse offering and enhancing its agency portal for local trade servicing the domestic market, are two recent initiatives of Leisure Time Travel.

Managing director, Scott Mehrtens says the company’s name, Leisure Time Tours has strong recognition but there was a need to emphasise the wider range of travel offerings.

Leisure Time Tours is offering an escape to Fiordland on what it describes as the ‘ultimate fishing trip.’

Vicki Annison, sales and marketing manager with Leisure Time Group, says guests start the weekend flying from Queenstown by helicopter to a privately chartered boat cruising one of the fiords in the area.

They spend the next two days on-board exploring Fiordland, fishing, diving, kayaking, or paddle boarding. ‘Fiordland is a special place for fishing as there are a wide variety of local and seasonal fish species to be

Leisure Time Tours is offering an 11-day tour through the North Island that discovers some of the most ‘Gram worthy’ destinations and activities that have been dominating Instagram feeds around the world. 

There are three package levels (standard, superior and premium) to choose from plus a range of optional extras to produce a flexible holiday. 

Supporting the local travel agent community and encouraging customers to do the same is a key strategy of long standing tour operator Leisure Time Tours, says managing director Scott Mehrtens.

‘Having operated for 33 years we have a deep understanding of how the distribution channels work, we are fully commissionable and we are able to immediately offer a wide range of domestic product to our travel agency partners,’ he says.