Marshall said it would be \u201cfantastic\u201d for herself and Whanganui if Whanganui Tours won this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people here that work really hard in promoting the area and tourism, and for our iwi, it [would] be really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whanganui Tours offers cycle and canoe excursions along the awa, with its famous Original Mail Tour where visitors join postie Marshall as she makes deliveries along Whanganui River Road\u2019s scenic rural mail route.<\/p>\n
The unique tour has put the small business on New Zealand\u2019s tourism map, blending historical sites with stories from life on the awa, marae visits and offering a glimpse at rural New Zealand life \u2013 including the route\u2019s quirky DIY mailboxes, handmade from items ranging from old, retrofitted microwaves to kayaks.<\/p>\n
Whanganui Tours co-owner Tracy Marshall delivering mail to a mailbox made from an old microwave on Whanganui River Rd in 2024. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
NZ Tourism Awards judges highlighted Whanganui Tours\u2019 direct benefits to the wider Whanganui community while connecting visitors to \u201cpeople and place\u201d, with the awa\u2019s influence on its operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe operate on Te Awa Tupua. It\u2019s our ancestors, it\u2019s our stories, it\u2019s our whenua. It\u2019s told our way as well,\u201d Marshall said.<\/p>\n
They also recognised the \u201csolid\u201d statistics Whanganui Tours provided, demonstrating growth and how it achieved it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI collaborate with my cousin who does canoe trips as well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s been a huge input, us collaborating together. And that\u2019s created a lot of growth [for Whanganui Tours].\u201d<\/p>\n
Andracic said it was \u201cterrific to be recognised for the work you do\u201d.<\/p>\n
Winners will be announced at the New Zealand Tourism Awards Dinner at Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre on November 4.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s awards had a record 177 entries across 12 categories, beating last year\u2019s record of 150.<\/p>\n
Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Rebecca Ingram said the increased entries were a sign of a \u201cthriving\u201d tourism industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re delighted with the record number of entries received from a range of individuals and tourism businesses across the country,\u201d Ingram said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt shows that people in the industry are proud of what they\u2019ve achieved over the past year.\u201d <\/p>\n
There were many first-time entrants and new operators this year, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe judges remarked that the quality of the applications has also been extremely high, with more applicants taking the time to provide solid evidence to back their entries.\u201d<\/p>\n
Erin Smith is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marshall said it would be \u201cfantastic\u201d for herself and Whanganui if Whanganui Tours won this year. \u201cThere\u2019s a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2246,10779,1558,1656,41550,78,10136,117,111,43,139,69,10097,196,1883,80],"class_list":["post-593138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-2246","tag-awards","tag-been","tag-company","tag-finalist","tag-in","tag-named","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tourism","tag-tours","tag-whanganui","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}