Skyline Rotorua is celebrating 40 years of operation in March 2025. Photo / Supplied 11 March 2025
Skyline Rotorua is celebrating 40 years of operation in March 2025. Photo / Supplied 11 March 2025
More than 15 million passengers have ridden the gondola at Skyline Rotorua in the past four decades. The ‘iconic’ attraction celebrates 40 years of operation this month and it is inviting locals and visitors to share their memories to mark the milestone.
It was circa 1987, and Andrew Jensen remembers hearing a call-out on the radio for people to go luging to film a Christmas advertisement.
Jensen, now Skyline’s general manager, was meant to be studying for a high school exam.
Instead, “down went the study books and I turned up to luge”.
Jensen said most Kiwis had a story about visiting the “iconic” attraction as luging down Mt Ngongotahā was “a rite of passage”.
Skyline Rotorua general manager Andrew Jensen. Photo / Supplied
Skyline Rotorua is encouraging Kiwis to share their favourite photos and memories from the past 40 years and be in to win prizes including gondola rides, luge passes, and Prezzy cards.
Jensen said the anniversary was not just a celebration of the past, but an acknowledgement of the bond Skyline had built with the local community.
“We wouldn’t be where we are today without the ongoing support of Rotorua whānau. Sharing in this milestone offers an opportunity to extend our gratitude and give back to the community that we are so proud to be a part of.
“Skyline Rotorua has enjoyed 40 years of innovation and adventure, and we are excited to carry that legacy into the future.”
A place to relax and have fun
Skyline opened in 1985, offering scenic gondola rides and luging.
Jensen started at Skyline in 2001 as administration manager. He moved up to assistant general manager in 2007 and has been the general manager for seven-and-a-half years.
He enjoyed the “constant variety” of the role, innovation and reinvestment into its people and products.
Skyline Rotorua is celebrating 40 years of operation in March 2025. Photo / Supplied
Alongside the luge, the tourism operator has the Stratosfare Restaurant, Market Kitchen Cafe, Skyswing, Hyfly Ziplines, Volcanic Hills Wine Tasting, iNZspired and the Mountain Bike Park.
Jensen said Skyline was a place for families to “relax, have fun, [and] share the view”.
Asked what the company’s biggest successes had been, Jensen said it had won various tourism, local, chamber, and sustainability awards over the years.
“But I guess the success is our staff - staff who have joined us from early years while they’re studying at school, university, and worked their way through.
Skyline Rotorua is celebrating 40 years of operation in March 2025. Photo / Supplied
“We’ve had staff that have gone on to work in our operations offshore. So, we run apprenticeships through the kitchens, workshops, various on-job training, extramural training, so huge investment in our team and that pays dividends because they’re able to help support us.”
Jensen said Skyline employed about 220 fulltime equivalent positions in the off-season.
