Tourism Holdings boosts interests at Waitomo

By SIMON HENDERY

Tourism Holdings has bought The Legendary Black Water Rafting Company - a well-known Waitomo business which sends 33,000 tourists a year through the Ruakuri Cave system on rubber tubes.

The purchase, from Peter Chandler, who pioneered the operation in 1987, and his business partner John Ash, was for an undisclosed sum.

Tourism Holdings has also obtained a 30-year licence to reopen the historic Ruakuri Cave for guided walking tours.

The cave has been closed to walking visitors since 1998.

Tourism Holdings has held the licence to operate guided tours of the Waitomo Glow-worm Caves and the adjacent Aranui Cave since 1995.

About 400,000 people visit the caves each year.

The general manager of Tourism Holdings' experiences division, Richard Wilson, said the black water rafting experience, and being able to provide guided walking tours of the Ruakuri Cave, were a natural fit for Tourism Holdings and complementary to the company's extremely successful involvement at Waitomo.

"Already Tourism Holdings brings many visitors to the Waitomo region through our various brands.

"The Waitomo Caves are very much the drawcard and popular with our coach passengers.

"Our Maui and Britz and Backpacker motorhome customers also enjoy the caves and our Kiwi Experience [backpacker bus service] passengers can't get enough of the thrills they encounter with black water rafting and other adventure activities in Waitomo."