Making New Zealand - Tourism

Television (Full Length Episode) – 2019

This episode of documentary series Making New Zealand dives into an economic powerhouse — tourism. The eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886 not only destroyed the unique Pink and White Terraces; it wiped out a fledgling tourism industry. But soon other wonders like the Waitomo Caves and the Southern Alps were attracting international visitors. World wars dented the industry's growth, but after the war tourism pioneers like the Wigley family, Hylton Hensman and Trevor and Heather Gamble from company Shotover Jet explored the exciting possibilities of adventure tourism.

Guide Rangi in her time, she had a wealth of knowledge. She could take you back in time to how the old people lived. They saw her in the newspapers, they saw her on newsreels. So she was so famous they never ever wrote an address: they just wrote 'Rangi, New Zealand' because she was as famous as the Prime Minister of New Zealand.
– Kaiārahi Tours guide Justin Te Hau on the beloved Guide Rangi (Rangitīaria Dennan)