Itineraries from a Picton travel writer

Picton-based Ron Laughlin and Paula Martin have developed the website New Zealand Travel Guide: On The Road.

They have travelled the length and breadth of New Zealand in their seven-metre bus, home and office 365 days a year for more than five years, accumulating real travel knowledge along the way.

Their story illustrates how locals, who are technologically savvy with international experience, connections, local knowledge and drive, can add value to Marlborough and its attractions for travellers.

"When you arrive in New Zealand, you will know what's around the next bend in the road," they tell the travellers they are attracting to New Zealand. They mainly come from the United States, Britain and Australia.

Everyone would like a local "guide" when on a holiday of exploration. How many times do we miss the best by one street because of a lack of knowledge?

Mr Laughlin, a former US-based travel writer, is now listing and writing about the accommodation, activities, holiday parks, events "and everything they have discovered to make travellers' trips more knowledgeable and enjoyable".

Ms Martin is a Taranaki Kiwi who has lived in Pelorus Sound. Mr Laughlin has been here since 1992 and is a New Zealand citizen.

Information and other services organised by them are available at newzealandtravelguide.net.

Mr Laughlin provides visitors with free, custom-made holiday itineraries in exchange for booking their vehicles and/or accommodation. Over the years he has developed a list of businesses he trusts for quality and price.

He interacts with potential travellers, adding judgment to complement content found on the web. He has added some of his local knowledge to the freely available Google New Zealand Travel Guide Map. Travellers can go online and move the map around to anywhere in New Zealand and find holiday-park information and other details Mr Laughlin has put there.

Travellers can go to one of the balloons and click on it for the information. They can find out the distances between two points anywhere on the map. Maps can be enlarged to show more information, including streets in the towns and cities, some terrain and views from satellite photos.

With many photos and local contacts, the couple are building New Zealand Travel Guide's Picton-based content and services.

Picton and its neighbourhood need more promotion, particularly in international markets he services, Mr Laughlin says. Travellers, such as the more than a million a year who come off the Interislander, could do more in Marlborough.

Every one of the international holiday visitors he creates an itinerary for has been introduced to attractions and services in the region before moving on.

He is not alone in offering itineraries. Destination Marlborough includes some for its travel trade audiences in their annual Marlborough Trade Directory and Convention Planner, which in turn can influence offerings to travellers through tourism industry distribution channels.

The free independent traveller audiences reached online by New Zealand Travel Guide increases the value and volume of visitors to Marlborough.

Mr Laughlin provides a personal questionnaire. Reaction has shown more than 90 per cent of travellers' interest is in New Zealand's outdoor beauty and its living creatures.

Inquiries to him come through internet channels. He points people to scenic Marlborough places such as the Queen Charlotte Drive and the Marlborough Sounds itself.

Travellers also are invited to stay in the Sounds to see the seals, swim with the dolphins, dive, boat and enjoy the water and walks.

In Kaikoura, all his visitors are invited to see the whales, albatross and other marine life in the area.

The next most important items on the travellers' agenda are the numerous walks offered and the opportunity to try the local food and wine.

The couple have also created the New Zealand Coffee Guide, after the many years on the road following their passion. It is downloaded by almost all of the visitors they service.

Anthony Haas, ahaas@decisionmaker.co.nz

- The Marlborough Express