TripAdvisor names Southern Discoveries one of world's best activities

Premier South Island tourism operator Southern Discoveries has cemented its position as one of the country’s best tourism operators with two prestigious accolades from the world’s largest travel community TripAdvisor.

In TripAdvisor’s ‘Who’s Who’ of the global travel industry, it awarded Southern Discoveries’ Milford Sound Cruises a Certificate of Excellence for the third year in a row.

The hat trick puts Southern Discoveries in the top-performing 10% of all businesses worldwide on TripAdvisor, and is only given to those that consistently earn high ratings from the website’s community of savvy travellers and reviewers.

Southern Discoveries’ Queenstown Lake Cruise, which only launched in 2011, has also been awarded a Certificate of Excellence for the second year running.

The tour has made a great impression with visitors receiving rave reviews on the site’s all-important online rankings.

The recognition follows three years of solid growth for the company which has expanded and enhanced operations in Queenstown, Milford Sound and Te Anau.

Southern Discoveries General Manager John Robson said the accolades were once again an indication that the company was providing “great products that ticked all the boxes for visitors”.

“We’re delighted with the awards. It makes such a difference that they’re based on unbiased feedback from guests who’ve actually experienced the trips and enjoyed them so much they had to tell others,” he said.

“While we continue to actively expand our business to incorporate complementary offerings, it’s vitally important to us to maintain the highest standards on all our tours, never forgetting that the customer comes first, and provide people with experiences they’ll never forget.”

Later this year the company will launch Queenstown’s newest water-based activity, a multi-million dollar catamaran and nature experience on Lake Wakatipu. The purpose-built 26m high-speed catamaran, to be known as Spirit of Queenstown, will launch for the start of the 2013/14 summer season.

Spirit will carry up to 150 passengers from Queenstown across the pristine waters of Lake Wakatipu to the normally inaccessible Mt Nicholas Station for an authentic and nature-based experience.

Activities on offer at the station will include day walks, cycling and musterer safari trips into the high country for a truly authentic experience. A woolshed on the shores of Lake Wakatipu will be transformed into the heart of this family-friendly experience.

Mr Robson said the new catamaran was shaping up to be a “fantastic” addition to activity options already available and would be unique to Southern Discoveries.

“With our history of operating award-winning cruises in Milford Sound and Queenstown, I’d like to think that this time next year we’ll be up for receiving our first Certificate of Excellence for the Spirit of Queenstown,” he said.