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GCH Aviation Partners with Skydiving Kiwis to bring skydiving to Sumner Beach, boosting Canterbury tourism

 

 

GCH Aviation Partners with Skydiving Kiwis to bring skydiving to Sumner Beach, boosting Canterbury tourism.

Skydiving Kiwis will soon be landing into Sumner Beach to give the Canterbury tourism industry a much-needed boost.

New Zealand’s most experienced and safest private aviation company, GCH Aviation, the parent company of Garden City Helicopters, will be operating the helicopter flights.

“GCH Aviation/Garden City Helicopters is thrilled to be working alongside Skydiving Kiwis in launching this new tourism experience,” says Caroline Blanchfield, Group Marketing Manager, GCH Aviation.

This is a totally new product in New Zealand tourism and that’s a great place to be

Caroline Blanchfield, Group Marketing Manager, GCH Aviation

“Some might think that this is a strange time to bring a new product to market, but this is exactly the time to innovate and launch a new tourism experience to put Christchurch on the domestic and later the international map. It really will appeal to Kiwis looking for a new thrill,” says Blanchfield.

Skydiving Kiwis has been a successful tourism venture in Ashburton for over a decade and hopes to bring skydiving into Christchurch as well as Hanmer Springs. These exciting new offerings will appeal not only to leisure visitors, but to the high value conference and incentive market. Christchurch is a fantastic conference destination and will welcome business events visitors back in the near future, and Hanmer Springs is a perfect location for pre and post conference touring, and for both domestic and international incentive groups.

Director Lee Barraclough says the award-winning tourism operation has been working hard on these two projects for nearly two years and is now in the final stages of being able to take visitors skydiving over both the expansive Christchurch coastline, and the stunning alpine scenery around Hanmer Springs.
Barraclough aims for the first Hanmer Springs jumps to coincide with the hot pools reopening on May 26.

Barraclough also wants to offer the community the opportunity to use skydiving as a vehicle for fundraising.

“This year, we have done seven charity events with our Ashburton operation and the last one raised $52,000, so we hope we can replicate this in Christchurch and Hanmer Springs.”

While the New Zealand tourism industry is fearing the near future without foreign visitors, Barraclough is confident the domestic appetite for adventure will enable many adventure activity businesses to create a sustainable and innovative business model.

We can reimagine our tourism industry. Instead of competing, we can collaborate to offer a compelling package to visit Canterbury, or for Cantabrians to enjoy their own backyard

Lee Barraclough, Director Skydiving Kiwis

“We first want to build a sustainable relationship with domestic customers and once the borders are open again, we intend to be in a strong position to expand.”

For more information or interview requests, please contact Coen Lammers on 021-730239

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