5 days ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
She's maybe got travel's best job
Despite Queenstown's reputation for adventure tourism, it's little known we're home to New Zealand's largest and most globally diverse adventure travel company.
Active Adventures, supreme winner at the last Queenstown Business Awards, runs high-value small-group tours the world over — 98% of its clients are Americans — and turns over tens of millions of dollars a year.
Started in 1996, it's been led since 2019 by inspiring CEO Wendy van Lieshout, who worked her way from the ground up.
In fact, when she moved from the Netherlands to Christchurch, aged 8, she didn't even know English.
However, she had a good education, finishing with a BA in English and art history.
After a short stint in an art gallery, she became a receptionist and typist at travel company Thomas Cook in 1994 — "I was literally typing itineraries before there were any computers".
"I did not start off knowing travel was [to be] my career, but I was very firmly in it very quickly.
"It was a very inspirational field to be in because you're selling people dreams."
After becoming a Thomas Cook travel consultant she then had 21 years in leadership roles in outbound travel, initially in Christchurch, then Auckland.
In many roles she turned companies around — in one case the culture had been "very poor and the team was desperate for leadership and direction".
She was even handed a GM marketing role with no marketing experience, so she took a university course.
"I was very driven to succeed, also very much in a man's world, so I think that spurred me to try and sort of break through.
"But honestly it's just hard work, taking opportunities, having connections and having a bit of nous, really.
"If you talk about why I do what I do, I love to watch people fly and grow and get better and be inspired, especially women, because in tourism, women tend to be at the lower parts."
In her CV she talks of having clear opinions, an open and transparent approach, an ability to solve complex issues quickly, confidence and thinking outside the square, qualities making her "a world-class CEO".
When approached to become Active Adventures' CEO in 2019, Wendy says she initially didn't think she'd be interested as her perception was it wasn't of the scale of companies in Auckland.
However, she was impressed its private equity owner had a strong growth drive, and took the job.
On December 4 that year she presented a growth plan for the board, only for Covid to shut down travel soon after.
Smartly, it bought a US company it had partnered with, Austin Adventures, which did national park tours in the US, "because all of our customers were stuck in America".
Then, last year Active Adventures added US company Discovery Bicycle Tours which operates in the US and Europe.
New Zealand stayed shut "way too bloody long", Wendy says, "but, no, we've bounced back, particularly with the benefit of the two American companies".
Nowadays they employ almost 200 staff, including guides, and have offices also in Christchurch, Peru, Spain and Montana and Vermont in the US.
Wendy — a small shareholder herself — says she loves her team's fortnightly global calls where staff get in front of screens worldwide.
"It's just this super-cool, powerful culture."
Compared with earlier roles where corporate travel, particularly, was a commodity, "our purpose is inspiring people to live a more adventurous life".
"The most rewarding thing is every day, almost, we circulate the reviews that are coming through from our guests, and we're changing people's lives."
As CEO, though, Wendy says "when you're moving 5000 guests a year, there's always the fear of something going wrong".
"We have an extremely good safety record and it is the number one thing ahead of anything.
"That weighs heavily because you're responsible for active retirees who are going up mountains — but we've got structure upon structure in place and amazing people who do great things."
Away from work, Wendy, who's 53, has two children, 19 and 13, and spends most of her spare time on a six-hectare lifestyle block she and her husband have at Arrow Junction, where they're replacing wildings with native vegetation.
"It keeps me sane but also fit."
As for her own bucket-list item from all the company's itineraries, "that's like asking me to choose a favourite child".
However, she settles on a new eight-day Tuscany e-bike tour she's going on in Italy in September.
"What's not to love?
"E-biking, food and wine in Tuscany ... bring it on."
