Kiwi bus firm bought

By SIMON HENDERY

Tourist heavyweight Tourism Holdings has bought out backpacker bus company Kiwi Experience and its Australian sister operation, Oz Experience.

Tourism Holdings, which until now owned 50 per cent of the two companies, said its takeover completed a two-year programme of joint-venture buyouts.

Kiwi Experience has a fleet of 19 buses which run a nationwide hop-on-hop-off shuttle service aimed at the backpacker market. It employs up to 50 staff at peak times. Oz Experience, with a fleet of 23 buses covering much of Australia, employs up to 80 staff.

Aucklanders Mike Warren and Neil Geddes founded Kiwi Experience in 1989, initially running a single bus between Auckland and Wellington via Rotorua and Ohakune.

The takeover is the last in a series of buyouts since chief executive Dennis Pickup began restructuring the group two years ago.