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I'm Marijke Dunselman, the founder of Agritourism NZ. I have always had a passion for farm life. My grandfather was a tulip farmer in Holland and my summer job as a teenager was peeling tulip bulbs. I loved spending time on farms of friends and family helping them out, riding horses and eating the home-grown fare.
I have fond memories of many agritourism holidays in France, Italy, Germany, Asia, the USA and other countries around the world. The rural aspect of New Zealand was one of the reasons we emigrated to New Zealand in 1994. We bought a small farmlet in near Invercargill in Southland and had a range of farm animals as well as a nice vege garden. A dream come true! Many of my friends are farmers and I've always loved learning about what they do. Over the years, I have worked with many farmers in helping them develop their agritourism business. Initially as Manager of Tourism Southland (Southland's Regional Tourism Organisation) some 24 years ago, and later in my own Marketing Consultancy & Training business. We have run the Agritourism Success Programme, an in-depth 6-month programme for four years with seven groups participating. This year (2023), we are running the new Regional Agritourism Accelerator Programme around New Zealand. The development of Agritourism NZ has been in the pipeline for a few years and is finally coming to fruition. I have developed several networks in the past, including the Smartourism Marketing Group, a group of 20 tourism businesses whom I help market internationally to inbound tour operators and wholesalers. This group has been running for 16 years. ...and where it's goingAs many (agritourism) businesses in New Zealand are small, working together makes sense.
Agritourism NZ's mission is to be a one stop shop for farmers to help them:
Advisory BoardClick here to read about the members of the Agritourism Advisory Board
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