2009.01.31 Stuff
One woman's naked ambition to lure more tourists to New Zealand by offering naturist adventures is taking flight.
Naturist Kay Hannam said Europe's naturists had traditionally travelled to United States and Canada for their holidays, attracted by low exchange rates. But they were now looking more widely afield and were impressed with what New Zealand had to offer.
Ms Hannam, who runs Wai- natur, a nudists' retreat in Marlborough's Wairau Valley, was New Zealand's sole representative at Vakantiebeurs, a tourism and travel show in the Dutch city of Utrecht.
More than 140,000 people attended the six-day show this month.
Her booth in the naturist pavilion – which had representatives from 14 other countries, including Greece, France and the Netherlands – aimed to gain the attention and money of Europe's growing naturist community.
Ms Hannam distributed material from the Wellington Naturist Club and Christchurch's Pineglades Naturist Club – which sponsored her trip – and handed out copies of gonatural, the naturist magazine she edits.
She returned home with several pages of names of people who said they were planning to visit New Zealand.
Ms Hannam said it was a valuable experience for raising the flag and making contacts: "I met the president of a German tour company. She helps people who don't want to go on holiday by themselves. Her clients want to visit New Zealand."
She also met the operators of an Internet site promoting naturist travel. "There are a lot of possibilities. I just planted a seed."
Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said Ms Hannam was one of many people who promoted New Zealand overseas as a holiday destination. "We support these initiatives as long as events and holidays are run well and professionally," Mr Hickton said.
