Tauranga cruise tour operator Shore Trips & Tours has purchased Cruise Tours Tauranga with plans to grow the business and expand the Shore Trips & Tours offering.

Shore Trips & Tours intends to grow the Cruise Tours Tauranga business via official onboard tour sales through the ships' land agents, both in Tauranga and other New Zealand ports.

Cruise Tours Tauranga offers local Food Experience tours that showcase the Bay of Plenty's horticulture and food offering. Developed over five years, the tours are offered onboard most of the visiting cruise lines.

The Cruise Tours Tauranga founders are relocating and retiring in Australia, and the remaining staff will be retained under the Shore Trips & Tours business. Additional staff will also be hired to cater for the growing Shore Trips & Tours operations.

Shore Trips & Tours has had consistent 25 per cent per annum growth in the last five years. Established in 2001 with a single Rolls Royce, the business has outgrown its current premises and is moving next month to cater for the growth.

Shore Trips & Tours founder and Managing Director Ian Holroyd says he's proud to be a Tauranga tourism success story and even prouder of the memories he's created for visitors to New Zealand.

'When we achieved our Trip Advisor Hall of Fame that's when I felt we'd really made it.”

Tourism Bay of Plenty Chief Executive Kristin Dunne said she is 'delighted” at the success of Shore Trips & Tours.

'The success of Ian and his team is testament to their hard work and Ian's faith in tourism in Tauranga, the wider Bay of Plenty and New Zealand.”

'Cruise is a vital part of the tourism industry in the Bay of Plenty. The 2018-2019 season injected $90.3 million into the local economy, up 35 per cent on last season.”

Stats NZ data also showed that Tauranga recorded the largest increase in the number of passengers; up 75,000 to 227,000 - a 49 per cent increase.

Shore Trips & Tours provides tours for 25,000 passengers throughout New Zealand each year.

Of the 227,000 cruise passengers that visited the Port of Tauranga last season, fifty percent chose local tours such as Shore Trips & Tours' 'A Day in the Bay” which gives cruise passengers a taste of the Bay's beaches, kiwifruit industry, and local history at Maketū.

Tauranga-based Shore Trips & Tours has branches in Dunedin, Akaroa, Wellington and the Bay of Islands.

The business has 33 vehicles ranging from Rolls Royce limousines to large tour coaches and currently employs thirty-five staff with more yet to be hired.

'I'm proud to expand on the Shore Trips offering through Cruise Tours Tauranga,” says Ian.

'We're looking forward to another fantastic season creating more lifelong memories for visitors to the Bay.”