Join Trail Futures on Tuesday 28th June to hear from Brian Megaw, Managing Director of River Valley Ventures Ltd, a New Zealand/Aotearoa tourism company.

Brian has been in tourism since 1986, first as a rafting guide, then with his wife, Nicola, as owners of River Valley. River Valley now includes an accommodation lodge that sleeps up to 50 guests, complete with a restaurant and bar, a rafting operation, horse trekking and e-bikes. During Brian’s time, he has seen the industry grow at an unprecedented rate and observed first-hand the impacts, both good and bad, of that expansion.

Brian has also spent time on rivers worldwide, including in India, Africa and the United States. At various times Brian has also been on the board of various regional and district tourism organisations.

Brian has always had an interest in subjects such as organic farming, rural depopulation and, latterly, regenerative agriculture, but until a few years ago struggled to see how these subjects related to tourism. This has since all changed.

Over the last decade or more, River Valley, which is very much a family-owned and operated company, has transitioned to a company that has being regenerative at its heart and is enshrined in its purpose. As an organisation, River Valley is very active in the life of the rural district it is located in, as well as operating conservation projects. These projects include trapping for introduced pests along the Rangitikei River and tree planting – both native and fruit and nut trees - on the property. A few years ago, a large organic vegetable garden was established, which supplies fresh produce to the lodge kitchen, and sells some surplus to the local community.

Like many in the industry, Brian struggles with the mechanics of how tourism can be regenerative, especially considering, by its very nature, it has a large carbon footprint.

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Once you have registered, this webinar will be delivered online via Zoom. Click the link you receive via email to join.

A link to the recording will be emailed to registrants after the workshop.

You can find a full list of upcoming events on the Trail Futures website: trailfutures.com.au/webinars

If you have any questions, please let us know via kaysanne.knuckey@trailfutures.com.au.