KORU WELCOME

FIRST IMPRESSIONS LAST

Navigator Tours offer this exclusive service at Auckland International Airport for your discerning clients to ensure they receive a quintessential, warm-hearted Maori welcome to Aotearoa~New Zealand. 

We believe most overseas visitors arriving at our airport, whether for the first time, or returning again, disembark and pass through the formalities excited to (finally) arrive and with high expectations of their visit. A visitor’s first contact on this side of the gate should be embracing, emotional, and of interest in itself. It should set the tone for the rest of their visit and for the time of their lives. 

Unfortunately, all too often, it can be a deflating experience. So let’s do away with the commodity “meet and greet service”  by grey men in grey suits. Instead let's give our manuhiri (guests) a dignified and heartfelt welcome to our wonderful country.

KORU WELCOME

The Koru Welcome  gives visitors their very first taste of indigenous New Zealand and its bi-cultural society. This is expressed in both the words of welcome and visual impression of the Maori “Navigator” who greets them, and in the “Taonga” (small treasure) given to each visitor in the “Spirit of Aroha”.

Each staff member delivering the Koru Welcome has been carefully selected and trained to receive guests in a professional manner, with a unique style that will give a warm impression of the New Zealand people and lifestyle. Their overriding mission is to ensure your guests arrives at their destination safe, happy, excited and stress-free.

FEATURES

Some of the features of this very personal welcome and transfer service are:

The Navigators - Maori professional guides

The Navigators will be dressed in our signature black suits, jackets or leisure wear depending on the profile of clients being received. The black uniform style with green Koru insignia stands out in the crowded concourse. It is internationally linked with New Zealand through sports teams and an array of brands.

The Navigator guides have undergone extensive in-service training to enable them to deliver the Spirit of Aroha with feeling and meaning. They understand that they will provide the first and lasting impression on the visitor and are ambassadors for all New Zealanders.

TE REO MAORI - THE MAORI LANGUAGE

Each Navigator guide is proficient in offering a brief welcome in Maori - Tena Koutou e te manuhiri tuarangi. Kia Ora!

PUTIPUTI HAKAREKE - FLAX FLOWER

Harakeke (flax), of which there are two species and 60 varieties in Aotearoa, is a key resource and the base for raranga (weaving), one of the premium Maori arts (Toi Maori).  A small flax flower will be offered to the arriving female guests. This simple gesture provides an immediate connection to our land.

TAONGA PONAMU KOHATU - SMALL GIFT

Greenstone is a precious gift. Each arriving male guest will be offered a small jade kohatu as a touchstone that will always remind them of their special welcome, of the people they met and that they have a small piece of Aotearoa to travel with them always. Gift wrapped with a short proverb in Maori that invokes all its sacred qualities: He iti, he pounamu.

THE TRANSFER - NAVIGATOR MPVs

We have several high specification six-seater vehicles on call. The distinctive black of the dress style is carried through to the vehicles. They feature leather and air-conditioning and are both comfortable and discreet. They also have colour and style co-ordinated luggage trailer pods to ensure maximum in-cabin comfort. Through the marvels of modern technology we will shortly offer in-vehicle Internet and email service and GPS-initiated local commentary and visitor information during the airport to city journey.