Travel agent's latest deal out of this world

ROBYN EDIE/The Southland Times

SPACE MAN: Tony Laker, of Invercargill's Laker House of Travel, is the sole Southland-Queenstown agent for Virgin Galactic's $285,000 space flights.

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New Zealanders are out of this world. Or at least want to get out of it, it seems.

According to Virgin Galactic, the space tourism venture owned by billionaire Sir Richard Branson offering sub-orbital spaceflights, New Zealand is its most significant space tourism market in terms of population.

At $285,000 (US$200,000) per flight, the trip is not cheap, but so far seven Kiwis have signed up and paid the 10 per cent deposit.

So far no-one from Southland or Queenstown Lakes has been brave (or rich) enough to book a flight but Laker House of Travel space agent Tony Laker said there were half a dozen interested customers.

He was also contacted initially by the buyer of the first flight sold in New Zealand, a Christchurch woman on holiday in Queenstown, but referred her to the Christchurch agent, he said.

Admitting it was perhaps the most unusual travel package he had ever offered, the goal still remained the same, he said.

"At the end of the day we're in the business of providing great travel experiences to clients, that could be a train to Christchurch or a spaceship to outer space," Mr Laker said.

With the flight costing $285,000, you would expect it would be the wealthy who would be interested, but that was not the case, he said.

Most of the people who had contacted him had not been overly rich but simply passionate about space, with a definite adventurous streak, he said.

Tests were still being conducted in America but it was likely the first passenger flight would be within 12 months, Mr Laker said.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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