Ruapehu Mayor Champions Chateau With Air New Zealand CEO
Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton had the opportunity to discuss the significance of central North Island tourism and the future of the Chateau Tongariro Hotel with Air New Zealand Chief Executive Greg Foran during this week's Mayoral Forum in Auckland.
Mayor Kirton said Mr Foran discussed the critical role domestic tourism plays in Air New Zealand's business and how destinations like Ruapehu are key to attracting both domestic and international visitors into the region.
'We also talked about the future of the Chateau with Greg commenting on its ability to act as a drawcard for visitors.
Greg clearly understood the value of the Chateau, not just as a building, but as a symbol of our region's appeal with its restoration having wide-ranging benefits for tourism, employment, and the wider economy,' he said.
Mayor Kirton reiterated his call for public support of Council's Parliamentary Petition urging Government to help secure a pathway for restoring the Chateau.
'With the right support, the Chateau can once again be a beacon for the region and a driver of economic prosperity,' he said.
'We're doing everything we can to make that happen and community backing is crucial.
If you haven't signed the petition, please do so and encourage your friends and whanau to do so also.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
13 hours ago
- Scoop
Generate Welcomes Greg Smith As Investment Specialist
Generate is delighted to announce that Greg Smith will be joining its growing team as Investment Specialist from 1 September 2025. In this newly created position, Greg will act as the bridge between our investment team and external audiences, ensuring the smooth communication of our investment strategies to advisers, media, clients, and the broader public. His focus will be on simplifying what can be hard-to-understand investment concepts and elevating Generate's market profile through accessible educational content. Greg brings significant experience from his previous role as Head of Retail at Devon Funds Management, where he engaged with financial advisers and retail clients to expand the company's reach across various platforms. Greg has been prominent in the business media for the past 20 years. He is a well-recognised market commentator, regularly appearing as a speaker on Newstalk ZB, the NBR, TVNZ, and contributing to market-related content across The New Zealand Herald, Stuff, and other media platforms. Previous to Devon, he was the head of research at the Australian-based funds management and market research business Fat Prophets. Prior to his time there, Smith was a global investments operations manager at Mellon Global Investments in London. He is a CFA Charter holder as well as a qualified chartered accountant. "At Generate, we are committed to making our investment expertise more accessible to all," said Sam Goldwater, Generate Chief Investment Officer. "This role ensures that our investment team's insights are effectively communicated to our clients and the broader market. We are thrilled to have Greg on board, as his experience and ability to communicate our investment strategies into clear, engaging content will be invaluable in helping us further educate and connect with investors." About Generate: Generate is an award-winning New Zealand-owned KiwiSaver and wealth manager, with an exceptional long-term track record of fund returns. For the fourth year running Generate has been awarded the prestigious Consumer NZ 'People's Choice for KiwiSaver'. Generate has a strong focus on educating and empowering its customers and has over 82% of members' KiwiSaver funds in growth funds versus the market average of 47%. It currently manages ~$7.7bn on behalf of 172,000 customers.
Scoop
13 hours ago
- Scoop
Generate Welcomes Greg Smith As Investment Specialist
Press Release – Generate Greg brings significant experience from his previous role as Head of Retail at Devon Funds Management, where he engaged with financial advisers and retail clients to expand the companys reach across various platforms. Generate is delighted to announce that Greg Smith will be joining its growing team as Investment Specialist from 1 September 2025. In this newly created position, Greg will act as the bridge between our investment team and external audiences, ensuring the smooth communication of our investment strategies to advisers, media, clients, and the broader public. His focus will be on simplifying what can be hard-to-understand investment concepts and elevating Generate's market profile through accessible educational content. Greg brings significant experience from his previous role as Head of Retail at Devon Funds Management, where he engaged with financial advisers and retail clients to expand the company's reach across various platforms. Greg has been prominent in the business media for the past 20 years. He is a well-recognised market commentator, regularly appearing as a speaker on Newstalk ZB, the NBR, TVNZ, and contributing to market-related content across The New Zealand Herald, Stuff, and other media platforms. Previous to Devon, he was the head of research at the Australian-based funds management and market research business Fat Prophets. Prior to his time there, Smith was a global investments operations manager at Mellon Global Investments in London. He is a CFA Charter holder as well as a qualified chartered accountant. 'At Generate, we are committed to making our investment expertise more accessible to all,' said Sam Goldwater, Generate Chief Investment Officer. 'This role ensures that our investment team's insights are effectively communicated to our clients and the broader market. We are thrilled to have Greg on board, as his experience and ability to communicate our investment strategies into clear, engaging content will be invaluable in helping us further educate and connect with investors.' About Generate: Generate is an award-winning New Zealand-owned KiwiSaver and wealth manager, with an exceptional long-term track record of fund returns. For the fourth year running Generate has been awarded the prestigious Consumer NZ 'People's Choice for KiwiSaver'. Generate has a strong focus on educating and empowering its customers and has over 82% of members' KiwiSaver funds in growth funds versus the market average of 47%. It currently manages ~$7.7bn on behalf of 172,000 customers.
NZ Herald
3 days ago
- NZ Herald
Air NZ defends Airpoints scheme after Australian criticism
'So, while we definitely do consider Airpoints to be less valuable than points in other frequent flyer programmes, it might not be easy for New Zealanders to actually earn significant points in those more valuable overseas programmes.' The study from Graham and his colleague Wilson McTaggart was picked up by national newspaper The Australian. But Air New Zealand said Graham and McTaggart's analysis did not outline numerous benefits and options available to customers based in New Zealand. 'Our loyalty programme is designed to deliver a rewarding and valuable experience for our members,' Air NZ general manager loyalty Alex Larsen said. 'We offer dozens of ways to earn and spend Airpoints dollars with competitive earn rates across banking, retail and directly with Air New Zealand. 'We also like to keep things simple and transparent for our members and that's why we take the guesswork out of how much an Airpoint dollar is worth. 'One Airpoints dollar is equivalent to one New Zealand dollar. 'You can spend your Airpoints dollars on all Air New Zealand flights, along with any item on our Airpoints store, or use a combination of Airpoints dollars and cash with FlexiPay, perfect for when you want to redeem your points but don't have enough to cover the full cost.' He said the airline had 4.8 million Airpoints members and was working on several innovations. Air New Zealand said its actual credit card reward points converted at a range between 70 to 1 and 150 to 1. 'For example, the ANZ Airpoints Visa Platinum card has an earn rate of $110 for one Airpoints dollar, Westpac's Airpoints Mastercard has an earn rate of $150 ... and the American Express Platinum card has an earn rate of $70 for one Airpoints dollar.' Graham said many frequent flyers considered Air New Zealand's Airpoints programme to be uncompetitive compared to international programmes. 'One of the main reasons for this is that it treats its points like cash, with one Airpoint being simply worth $1 when redeeming on Air New Zealand.' He said that limited opportunities to get the 'outsized value' from Airpoints that some other frequent flyer programmes had. Graham also said the hard expiry of Airpoints, which expired after four years even if one's account was active, was 'very consumer-unfriendly'. He said Australian Frequent Flyer regarded Airpoints as poor when it came to the points' expiration policy. 'It uses dynamic pricing for many of its redemptions, so the number of Airpoints you need to book a flight is not fixed,' Graham said. Etihad and Emirates also scored relatively poorly in his study because many flight redemptions he reviewed cost a high number of miles and had high surcharges, compared to other airline programmes. 'In my view, it seems Air New Zealand feels like it doesn't really need a competitive loyalty programme because many Kiwis are stuck with it and will continue to use it anyway.' But he also said many loyal Air New Zealand flyers undoubtedly valued Airpoints' elite status. 'And Air New Zealand does look after its most frequent flyers very well. But as a complete package, the Airpoints programme is just not that attractive.' A Consumer NZ study last month said for people putting at least $20,000 a year through their credit card, the best card to get free flights was American Express Airpoints. It said that card would get a person up to $400 towards flights over two years. For people spending $50,000, the best card in Consumer's opinion was Amex Airpoints Platinum. 'If you're able to spend this much on your credit card each year, you'll earn $1900 towards flights over two years,' Consumer NZ said. 'But it's by collecting points you can turn into trips rather than with Airpoints.' In May, Kiwibank said it was phasing out its Airpoints credit card rewards, citing increasing costs and regulation changes. Interchange fees paid on transactions, charged by issuers to a merchant's bank, were cut in 2022. The Commerce Commission introduced new pricing standards but Kiwibank said that meant some increased costs were passed on to cardholders and issuers covered a big portion. Those Kiwibank cardholders can earn Airpoints until October 31 and will then be moved to the Kiwibank Platinum Visa card automatically. Last November, data showed Air NZ's Airpoints had been growing at about 11% a year. The airline then said it introduced more perks, and partnerships such as Everyday Rewards. John Weekes is a business journalist mostly covering aviation and court. He has previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and court.
