Mentor a Guide for Tourism Business

Ryan Kelly, owner of guiding company Southern Wilderness, is optimistic about the future of his business, despite the recent dip in the economy. In 2008, the company’s first season, he experienced massive growth. With the help of a business mentor, Ryan is expecting Southern Wilderness to enjoy further growth over the 2009 season and beyond.

Since setting up Southern Wilderness, Ryan and his tightly-knit team of experienced tour guides have created a unique hiking experience. As well as offering visitors the chance to see some stunning areas in New Zealand, such as NelsonLakes andKahurangiNationalPark, Ryan has also introduced a gourmet food factor to the hiking packages. Each night, walkers are able to sit down to a spread of premium, locally sourced food and wine, meaning that a little bit of luxury can be enjoyed wherever in the wilderness they have wandered to.

Even though Ryan has been involved in the tourism industry for many years and has a background in management, he realised that there were still some gaps in his business knowledge. One of the first things he did when he established Southern Wilderness was approach Business Mentors New Zealand for advice. He clicked straightaway with mentor and former tour guide, Robert Panzar.

“Robert has a wealth of experience, both in tourism and business, which I have really appreciated tapping into,” says Ryan. “It has also been fantastic to sit down with someone who has been through an economic downturn and can reassure you that it is possible to come through the other side and see exponential growth.”

Ryan has been passionate about tourism ever since he watched a slideshow of an outdoor pursuits centre at school. He knew that he would never be happy in a mundane 9 to 5 office job and so immediately set about gaining the qualifications and experience needed to succeed in the outdoors tourism business.

After travelling around the world, working as a guide in Darwin and a snow-maker in the United States, among other things, Ryan returned to New Zealand and helped create the Nelson-based Southern Wilderness in January 2007. Then, at the end of last summer, he bought the other two partners out and became his own businessman. He now has five employees, which includes two teams of tour guides.

“Guiding is a lot of fun. I really love my job,” says Ryan. “As well as being passionate about the outdoors and the wonderful rural places that New Zealand has to offer, I also really like the people-focused side of the job. I enjoy getting to meet a huge variety of different people on the tracks.”

Ryan has high hopes for the future of Southern Wilderness. He is hoping to expand the business and has been looking around for opportunities that will enable him to do this. He will also continue to focus on creating a world class tourist destination, as well as a company culture that he can be proud of.

Ryan Kelly: “I would definitely recommend mentoring to any other business owner starting out.”