Real Journeys chief executive Richard Lauder has been co-opted on to the Tourism Industry Association (TIA) board, the first company representative on the board since at least the mid-1990s.
Mr Lauder put his appointment down to an industry respect for Real Journeys, and a desire on the part of the board to be represented in the country's ''tourism hot spot''.
Although the TIA represented the sector as a whole, he could offer perspectives on this region's tourism industry and on markets such as China, with which Real Journeys was strongly engaged.
TIA board chairman Grant Lilly said the association was ''very pleased'' Mr Lauder had accepted the offer and would join its next board meeting in December.
Previous Queenstown representatives on the board are AJ Hackett Bungy co-founder Henry van Asch, Maryann Geddes, of Skyline, and Jerry Hohneck, of the New Zealand Commercial Jet Boat Association.
The new TIA board held its first meeting last month, renewing its commitment to the Tourism 2025 growth framework, which has a goal of increasing total tourism revenue from $24 billion to $41 billion a year in the next 11 years.
Mr Lilly, a board director for several businesses and organisations in the aviation and tourism sector, was unanimously re-elected chairman and Positively Wellington Tourism chief executive David Perks was re-elected deputy chairman.
