Experience matters
When it comes to touring New Zealand a great experience matters and when it comes to the team you deal with, well great experience matters even more!
Thanks for making your way here. Whether you are a kiwi tourism business looking to partner with us, a travel retailer looking for a New Zealand inbound operator or a customer looking to experience New Zealand in your own unique way - you are in the right place.
For over 15 years we have specialised in tailor made touring holidays throughout New Zealand. It's what we love and what we do best.
We do this under various brands and we are passionate about them all, check them out below and see which one is right for you.
The easiest way for travel agents to sell NZ.
Our agents’ only portal makes selling New Zealand easy! Search, book and create New Zealand itineraries for your customers in a flash. The nzsidekick system has been designed to put all the power of selling New Zealand touring holidays into a travel agent's hands. With over 480 touring itineraries ready to go you can create a fully branded holiday for their client in minutes.
See site here
Custom designed New Zealand Tours since 2004
Custom New Zealand experiences are Fine Tour's forte. Explore New Zealand with one of our custom created vacations designed just for you by our New Zealand based team of experts. True specialists in our field we have been curating holidays since 2004 and are renowned for making New Zealand itinerary planning easy.
See site here
View all the leading coach tour operators on one site.
A one stop 'coach touring' shop, this is the perfect place for customers to plan, price and book their coach tour with our expert support and help. Offers customers an unrivaled range of escorted all-inclusive tours, specialised small group tours and tailor-made independent coach tours around New Zealand.
See site here
The largest range of self drive tours in New Zealand
Browse our 200+ tour suggestions for ideas and inspiration and then get in touch with the team to see how easily we can make it all happen. We offer you the largest choice of tour routes, accommodation, car and activity combinations on the market and we can customise every one into the perfect holiday just for you.
See site here
The leading independent coach touring specialist
If you want to tour New Zealand but don’t want to drive or join an escorted coach tour then an independent coach tour with Thrifty Tours New Zealand is perfect for you! Departing daily these fine-tuned tours, developed over 30 years of holiday planning experience are the perfect way to see New Zealand!
See site here
100% New Zealand self drive holiday specialists
New Zealand should be a once in a lifetime experience and Pure Journeys is here to make it perfect for you. On our site, you’ll notice a selection of bespoke self-drive holidays departing from some of New Zealand's main cities including our Top Ten self-drive holidays – a great place to start. Let your journey begin.
see site here
Self drive and independent coach tours all on one site
Discover New Zealand is your one stop shop for all your touring package needs. Established in 1987 and run from a home office in the original owner's garage, Discover is now part of the New Zealand Fine Touring Group, a great choice when it comes to self-drive and independent coach touring around New Zealand.
see site here
exclusively New Zealand ski packages and holidays
We are based right in the heart of New Zealand Ski country in Wanaka, close to four of the best ski fields in the South Island. When you contact us about your Ski New Zealand package you will talk to people who actually ski here and they will give you the latest and greatest advice on who, what, where and why.
see site here
Epic New Zealand road trips for adventurers
Authentic New Zealand roadtrips for adventurers. Travel like a local, immerse yourself in New Zealand’s unique culture and get off the beaten track. Grab your mates, jump in a car and head on a New Zealand journey with nzroadtrip and see the real New Zealand. You won’t regret it. Adventure awaits.
see site hereThe latest news and roles
What kind of people do we hire?
Find out here
That's a great question!
When we look at new team members here's our wish list:
• Someone who can pick up a role and run with it.
• Someone who won't say 'no' but rather 'why not'.
• Someone who eats challenges for breakfast.
• Someone who is strong enough to stand up to the boss and tell him his jokes aren't funny but soft enough to tell him they are getting better.
• They'll have excellent communication skills and a 'do and learn' approach.
• They'll be a lateral thinker and a problem solver.
• They'll understand that we sell dreams not travel and dream selling is serious business.
• They will laugh a funny 'I can do that' laugh when we say 'there's all of this to do'.
• They won't mind pitching in to help on other projects when needed either as we're a small office on a big journey and that's just what we do.
Maybe they are experienced in sales, maybe they are returning to the workforce or maybe they are working in a bakery right next door to us - regardless they are people people and full of vim and vigor!
Possibly they are a little crazy. Preferably they know the tourism sector. Importantly they LOVE New Zealand. Like really love it. We do.
If this sounds like you then get in touch as we are always on the lookout for exceptional people.
Sales consultants needed
Wanaka based
Attention all go-getters:
We need a new Travel Specialist...
We are on the lookout for an enthusiastic New Zealand Travel Specialist to join our team based in Wanaka or Auckland.
The job is pretty epic to be honest – create the perfect New Zealand holiday for people from all over the world.
You don’t need to have travel industry experience. In fact some of our most successful consultants had no industry experience when they joined us and have gone on to be real superstars and earn fantastic dollars.
While the role is not for the fainthearted you can rest assured that we hire on attitude and aptitude and will teach the right person the skills needed to succeed in our business.
However, these are the qualities you must have:
• Enjoy working on a base salary plus commission with unlimited earning potential.
• A genuine love for helping customers.
• A lot of initiative.
• A great communicator armed with the confidence and ability to sell.
• Passionate about New Zealand as a destination.
• A kiwi roll-up-your-sleeves, can-do, get it done, muck in, and have fun - kind of attitude.
• A high level of common sense, which isn't actually that common.
• You won’t be scared of some weekend and public holiday work.
• A high attention to detail and easily adapt to change.
• Can pick up new computer systems easily and confidently.
If this sounds like you and you are up for an exciting new challenge plus hold a New Zealand Resident Visa then let's talk!
Send your C.V. to kerry@nzft.co.nz with a covering letter telling us why you have the right stuff.
The New Zealand Fine Touring Group is one of the fastest growing inbound holiday specialists in the industry with offices in Auckland and Wanaka – join us today and you won’t look back.
Discover NZ and Thrifty Tours purchased
Understand why here
One of the country’s largest and fastest growing tourism businesses, The New Zealand Fine Touring Group, has purchased Discover New Zealand, and Thrifty Tours New Zealand, to capitalise on an ever-increasing boom in tourists.
New Zealand Fine Touring Group specialises in the bespoke touring sector, currently operating nine different retail and wholesale brands. The company has grown significantly in recent years and the acquisition of Discover New Zealand and Thrifty Tours will bolster that growth.
Until now, The New Zealand Fine Touring Group has primarily been managed out of its Wanaka headquarters. The addition of Auckland based Discover New Zealand and Thrifty Tours New Zealand, will give the group extensive reach and influence across both the North and South Islands.
The group plans to use the purchase to grow considerably over the coming seasons and to provide increasingly discerning in-bound travelers with a superior, more sophisticated, bespoke service. This will include developing the group’s already advanced online and systems expertise, and custom-built technology.
Chris Sutton, New Zealand Fine Touring Group co-owner and Marketing Director, explained:
"The Discover NZ and Thrifty Tours NZ brands are a great fit for us. While we have competed with them for many years, we have always admired what they’ve done and indeed the team they have built. The businesses are built on very similar values to ours, and bringing them together made real commercial sense for us. We will have an amazing team of passionate Kiwis now, and nine different brands in all of the key offshore markets. That puts us in a strong strategic position to not only sustainably grow our share of the inbound market, but to also explore new and exciting ideas we have on how we might create even better customer experiences - it’s an exciting time, for sure."
Dave Kettle, founder of The New Zealand Fine Touring Group, added:
"We've come a long way from plugging away at the kitchen table all those years ago, but our journey is far from over, in fact we are just beginning. If we continue to focus on keeping the customer at the center of everything we do, building a talented team of people around the business and on increased productivity and efficiency then we will continue to grow. With that growth comes scale and who knows where that could lead us – watch this space."
A little bit about us
The New Zealand Fine Touring Group was born on David and Kerry Kettle's kitchen table in 2004. 14 years later and they still own the business along with Chris Sutton and Meg Evans who became partners in 2014.
In the last few years the team has grown from just a few to nearly 30 based in our Wanaka and Auckland offices and turnover has quadrupled. Despite this growth, particularly in the last five years or our ongoing success is driven form one of the founding principles of the business. An uncompromising determination to deliver the very best experience to our guests. Our team strives to deliver this at every interaction, from the very first email or phone call to the last farewell. We firmly believe that nothing can out do honest, old fashioned person to person service. While technology has made this easier that fundamental belief will never change.
We believe that our values continue to set us apart and we live by them every day:
REAL - we live and work with passion & honesty. We don’t pull punches. We tell it like it is.
GRIT - we don’t quit until we find a way to get it done. We don’t take no for an answer. We never give up.
MAVERICK - we dare to test new ideas
INTEGRITY - we don’t bullshit each other, our customers or our partners
GET IT DONE - we wake up, kick ass and repeat
We live, love and sell the most extraordinary country in the world. We are often reminded of how truly lucky we are to live here and that continues to motivate us to see that as much of the world as possible experiences the beauty of New Zealand for themselves.
You can get in touch with any of the owners to talk ‘New Zealand’ at any time – here’s our details...
Since 2004 our business has had a very simple philosophy – ‘an uncompromising determination to deliver the best experience’. While we’ve grown and changed considerably since those early days that one simple philosophy still drives us now.
Team NZFT
This is where the magic happens
The right people can make all the difference in a business and we are lucky to be able to work with an amazing team of like-minded folk who share the same values and philosophies as we do. They are experts on everything ‘New Zealand’. They have immersed themselves in the must see places, explored the far reaching corners and toured the country just like our customers do. They know what works and they love to make our customer's dreams come true no matter what area of the business they work in.
We laugh with them, stress with them and celebrate with them. They are the real stars of the show and where the magic really happens. You should talk to one of them today.
