Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Duncie Wildergrave
from News Talk.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Zed be put across to Rugby because rugby's greatest rivalry
tour is all but upon us. So how many All
Blacks fans are going to be on hand to witness
a play up, play out up close? Who's going to
be in the stands?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
How many?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Nick Roland is head of Commercial for Sports Travel and
Hospitality Group New Zealand, Rugby's official travel and hospitality partner.
He joins us, Nick, thanks for joining us and having
a yarm mate. How many All Blacks fans should we
expect to see in the stands in South Africa over
the next five or six weeks.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Well, hopefully there's more black and green than green when
we get over there, but now it should be a
good little tour. So thanks for having me on Piney.
We've got twelve hundred traveling with us, so that's to
range of different tours because we have four kind of main.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Tours and then some weekend of packages.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
But all up, we've got twelve hundred fans and I'm
sure there's going to be many more once we get
over there.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
That is a big what seems like a big number.
How does that compare to to other tours that you've
been involved in organizing with your blacks playing offshore?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
It compares really well for us from a Rugby World
Cup perspectives. Over in France a couple of years ago,
obviously we had some very big numbers over there. So
this one, I mean people in wently thirty years for this.
So it's pretty pretty exciting to get over there and
kind of sink our teeth into a destination that not
a lot of people get to travel to a lot. Yeah,
so for us, it compares really well to about a
rugu World Cup kind of size of tour group.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Amazing. So when you're putting these packages together, Nick, because
some people want to go to one test, two tests,
all the tests. Some people, I know, you've got an
offering which basically has them there in South Africa the
whole time. How do you know what people will be
interested in?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
I guess we look at we know our customers pretty well.
We have a lot of repeat customers that come year
after year with us. Two different matches for this one,
we went for a long one. We thought that was
quite exciting. It obviously encapsulates the whole tour, so it's
thirty one nights all up. Starts from a couple of
days before the Stormers match next Saturday, and then goes
right through to the end of the matches in South Africa.
(02:12):
Baltimore is quite hard to get to from Johannesburger. I
don't know if anyone's ever looked at that, but from
our we're ending posts the last Test in Johannesburg, so
we kind of give flexibility. So we have I think
there's seven main tours. There's some other stuff we do
on the side with some special clients that we do
is a little bit bespoke, but for the most part
(02:33):
we have a thirty one nighter. Then the big chunky
one for us is actually a sixteen nighter, so that
encapsulates the three tests, and then we have a couple
of two ten days which are essentially first and second
Test and third and fourth sorry and second and third Test,
if you.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
And then we have the weekend of packages where people
can kind of choose to do their own thing in between,
or you know, they might just want to come over
for a weekend and see one match. You know, we
have fans traveling from all over the world, so it's
not necessarily that all kiwis going over, but they're all
all backs fans.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
We know that on the longer ones, the third one
night and maybe the sixteens and things like that. Nick,
how much work goes into arranging activities and experiences for
your customers which are outside of the rugby itself.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Well, I always give the example as we might go
away for two weeks and there's two hours of rugby
in that two weeks, right, so how do we see
the rest of those times? And so we're doing all
sorts of stuff.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
And around it.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
We're actually building our own bespoke safari park at the
moment with some glamping sites, some bars and restaurants and
things like that. So that's been in the build phase
for a couple of weeks now. So all of our fans,
whether they're on a ten, sixteen or thirty one nighter,
will go through that safari at some point. Then we're
going to go to wineries, We're going to enjoy some
whale watching. You know, there's a whole range of different things.
So realistically, if you're on a thirty one nighter, I
(03:48):
think there's about five three days. The rest of the
days are pretty much filled in with some sort of
activity every day, which is pretty exciting.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Absolutely, And you mentioned as well that there'll be other
all Blacks fans are as well, they'll be key. We's
living in South Africa there, they'll be key. We who
have made their own arrangements. Have you got any sort
of gauge on on on others, you know, others who
just look obviously you provide everything door to door. Have
you got a gauge on those who have decided to
do it themselves? If you get what I mean?
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Yeah, I don't. We don't really get a gauge on
that until we turn up.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
And I know, in you know, previous times, the All
Blacks or the South Africa always hesitant putting an all
Blacks fixture in Cape Town, for example, because there's a
lot of all Blacks fans that just reside in Cape
Town and so they kind of get flooded with fandom
over there.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Side.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
I'm expecting to see that Cape Town match pretty.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Flooded with all Blacks as well as.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Obviously the Storms Stormer's game for the opening, so there'll
be a heap of all Black supporters around for those
the other ones that are obviously some of them are
a little bit harder to get to the likes of
Durban and some of those other spots.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
But you know, I think.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
There'll be a range of different people that are doing
their own thing, but also just there's a lot of
South Africans that love the all Blacks and they're going
to go and support the all Blacks as well.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
It's pretty remarkable really.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Absolutely are there are there greater safety concerns in South
Africa compared to some other places you.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Go, Yeah, there are, and I think that's why we
kind of see more people coming through a tour operator
or a travel operator like us, because they do get
that safeguard. We've built our partnership when he's on Rugby
and obviously been Ruggy Stratus rival as a business proposition
or a JV, we actually get within the security confines
of the same of those organizations, so we're well looked after,
(05:25):
and I think that's a lot of people will pack
us because of that, especially if they haven't traveled to
a country like that. We see similar in Argentina when
we go over there, so yeah, we do definitely see
a lot of people kind of coming with us because
of the security and the issues and potentially just not
knowing a lot about what's on the ground when you
go up to the London and UK and that sort
of area. A lot of people have been to those places,
so they feel safe in those.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
Spaces, but we haven't been to South Africa before. You
don't really know where to start.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
So I think that's why a lot of people will
come with us and have that safety net around them
as they kind of tour with a whole bunch of
like minded individuals as well.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Absolutely, and in terms of what you've got available, I've
been on your website to have a quick look ahead
of Chatting Test today. A lot of your offerings are
sold out. Has the demand you or were you always
pretty confident that a lot of people are being keen
on this.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
We thought a lot of people were keen.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
But when we first opened this back in November, we
went out the gates really strong. A lot of people
had been waiting for this for a long time, I think,
so we knew there was going to be demand. We
probably didn't expect this level of demand. For example, we've
had to we had to sell out one of the
tours because we ran out of boats and Harmanas to
go well watching of all things. So it's you know
(06:32):
things like that that when you start to operationalize that
sort of people. I mean, we're working with thirty eight hotels,
I think from memory.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
I don't know how many.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Buses we're doing and coaches we're doing. But when you
start to get that sort of level, you actually can't
keep the group together a lot. You know, the cake
Town test will literally have twelve hundred people at and
of course we're then going to try and put them
all where we are putting them all into hospitality for
that match, so they all have a pretty cool experience,
but you know, room sizes start to becoming issues. Restaurants
can't take that many people. There's a whole range of
(07:01):
different kind of logistics that need to go on behind that.
So for us, we kind of have a nice spread.
We're keeping group people in groups that are a little
bit smaller and so they can actually have a proper
true experience, because you don't want to be coming into
an environment where there's just so many hundreds of people
that you don't even know who you're traveling with anymore.
So we try and make it quite bespoke once we
(07:22):
get down into the operational detail, and there'll be groups
of thirty or forty that will be traveling together, you know,
for the thirty one nighter for the majority of that time,
and then we'll kind of come together for the big
party the night before the match, and then obviously going
to the match as well.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Love it, Love it? Have you? Have you started talking
to people about the World Cup next year? It's fifteen
months or so away.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
I know, it's scary, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I mean that the momentum the team's got at the
moment after the July series is pretty pretty exciting. So yeah,
we are definitely seeing demand. There's been a couple of
ticket drops from a rou worl cut perspective, and a
lot of people are missing out. So the tip, you know,
some of the matches are getting really really tight. Specifically
that Australian New Zealand Pool game. They're seeing demand almost
as high as the final for that, so she's pretty
(08:03):
exciting for that game. And yeah, we've been on sale
since February. We've got a whole bunch of people already
locked in and loaded, and we're certainly taking a lot
more demand. I think once we get back from South Africa,
you know, hopefully we win the series and then all
of a sudden we go, okay, well we're actually chance
in this World Cup against South Africa if we might
meet them in the quarterfinals or whatever, depending on how
we go. So yeah, so I think demand was certainly
(08:25):
looking to build a lot a lot over the next
few months, particularly because it's more of a short haul
as opposed to a long haul. So people are kind
of only looking probably to book about a year out,
and that's kind of coming up where we're not far
off from being a year out from the World Cup,
which is pretty exciting.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Well, you'll, lud have done lastly to my last question
during your last answer, how do you reckon we'll go
over there? Are you feeling confident about our chances against
the spring Books.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
I was with a few of the boys earlier this
week and they are very very confident, you know, the
other type of they're sitting there going how do we
kind of get one up here and get a couple up.
I mean for them, a lot of the players, you know,
they're not even thirty, so they don't even realize when
we tour there in nineteen ninety six, and so for
(09:10):
them it's quite an exciting proposition.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
They haven't had a long tour like this. They're certainly I.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Think jelling is a team really really well at the moment.
But that's pretty bullish, so you know, that kind of
gives me confidence. And as we saw through you know,
France and Nicaly and then Ireland, the team built you know,
really really well over that three week period, so I
can only imagine what's going to happen when together for
seven weeks.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Absolutely special time coming up for the twelve hundred you've
got traveling over Nick, thanks for joining us this afternoon.
Make travel safe and we'll catch up again soon.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
No worries, she's finey, thanks mate.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
No, thank you mate. Nick Rowland, head of Commercial for Sports,
Travel and Hospitality Group, New Zealand, Rugby's official travel and
hospitality partner. Lots of All Blacks fans in the stands
when the tour kicks off in Cape Town against the
Stormers on Saturday morning, five o'clock New Zealand Time. We
have full commentary of all All Blacks tour matches here
on News Talks. He'd be Elliott Smith is among the Travelers.
(10:02):
He's not going with the Sports Travel and Hospitality Group,
much as I'm sure he would enjoy. Now he's over
there to work, So he's got a commentary of all
the games for you with a mix and match of
expert analysts alongside. Five o'clock Saturday morning is the opening
game of rugby's greatest rivalry, the All Blacks against the
Stormers in Cape Town.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks
it'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
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