New information centre a one-stop shop for visitors

A new activity booking and information centre has opened its doors in the heart of Queenstown, New Zealand’s premier four-season tourism destination.

Qbook is owned by Yoji Kimura, a well-known face in the local tourism market with a strong presence in the trade market through his company Japan Connect NZ.

Qbook, short for ‘Queenstown Booking & Info’, has been developed as a new one-stop booking and information service for independent travellers and families.

Located on Queenstown’s Shotover Street, a hub of activity and adventure tourism operators, Qbook will provide advice and information to visitors from all countries, with English and Japanese-speaking staff members on-site.

While Mr Kimura said Qbook would inevitably have a strong focus on the Japanese and Asian markets, he said he and his staff had hand-picked a selection of ‘must do’ activities to help make all visitors’ time in Queenstown as smooth and enjoyable as possible.

“I’ve been here for 13 years and we have a huge depth of product knowledge, so we’re well placed to pick the top 20 ‘must do’ activities, rather than giving hundreds of activity options to visitors who have limited time in the resort,” he said.

“Visitors can leave happy in the knowledge that they’ve seen and experienced the very best of this stunning resort town.

“We can build multi-day itineraries or provide a one-off booking service for independent travelers and families, and we also have a variety of free maps for self-guided walking and driving tours around Queenstown and the surrounding area.”

Mr Kimura said the strong new Qbook brand had been developed to have “cute-looking” and eye-catching appeal for those walking down the street, with its distinctive colours also reflected on its website www.qbooknz.com

Mr Kimura, originally from Japan, migrated to Queenstown in 1997 and founded Japan Connect NZ Ltd in 2003.

He has been very successfully operating in the trade market since then, representing four major operators – Skyline Queenstown, Kawarau Jet, Millbrook Resort and AJ Hackett Bungy – to the Japanese market.

“These very strong and long-term business relationships in the last 12 months alone delivered about $2.1million of revenue to these companies from Japanese visitors,” he said.

“I love Queenstown so much that I’m very passionate about promoting it to Japan and the world, and Qbook is a natural extension of that.”

Mr Kimura conducts regular sales trips to Japan and Auckland, has very close relationships with travel agents in Japan and inbound operators, airlines, tourism agencies and the local business community in New Zealand, and also attends major trade shows like TNZ Kiwi Link and TRENZ.

The new Qbook office is on the ground floor at 74 Shotover Street and is open 12 noon to 7pm Monday to Saturday. Call +64 3 409 2969 for booking information or enquiries or visit www.qbooknz.com