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The smiling, cheerful face of Henry Horne was present at Business Events Industry Association’s MEETINGS 2025 conference held in Auckland this week. However, it was not at his usual stand of the Hobbiton Experience.
After 23 years and seven months to the day at Hobbiton, Henry has migrated to the Southland region; specifically to Transport World based out of Invercargill.
Henry has taken up the “portfolio of tourism offerings” at Transport World Invercargill. The draw was to grow a new regional proposition. “To go into a region and try and grow a destination of opportunity was awesome!” he says.
The Southland region has a wide range of offerings, with Bill Richardson Transport World, Classic Motorcycle Mecca and Toot Sweets just to name a few. These often attract their own festivals or events such as the biannual George Begg Festival – a modern and classic car racing festival that draws a large crowd, is organised and delivered by Bill Richardson Transport World and is growing rapidly. It’s a historic race meet with sensational cars from across the decades. This is complemented by many participants dressed in retro and vintage fashion.
Events like this, with a strong support base and venue in the form of Bill Richardson Transport World, have helped encourage the motor tours. Clubs such as the Porsche club, the Alfa Romeo club and the Mustangs club have all visited Invercargill.
Henry is hoping, amongst other things, to build on this base using the platform they have in Invercargill.
While Henry is working under the banner of Transport World, he is hoping to champion, on their behalf, a regional collective. While Transport World is unique, Henry understands that “as a stand-alone product, we’re not going to be the main reason why people come [to Southland], you have to go in with a collective approach”.
As Henry points out, Invercargill is the gateway to the Southland region. With the Catlins, Stewart Island and the ever-popular Milford sound in Southland, Henry says they are obviously only a part of the regional footprint – but the region needs some recognition.
