We've won a number of recent accolades recognising the exceptional experience we provide for our travellers and the work we do in the communities we operate in. We're incredibly proud of where we are today, from a tiny New Zealand travel company, based out of a shed just out of Hamilton, to a multi-award winning company spanning Asia-Pacific!
2019 Adventure Tourism Awards
Winner: Best Tour (New Zealand)
Finalist: Best Tour/Activity NSW (Australia)
This award recognises Multi-Day Tour operators who foster outstanding experiences, customer dedication and excellence within their State / Country.
Stray won this award for designing excellent tour itineraries in our unique style. Our founding principals are to create tours that allow travellers to venture further off the beaten track, offer travel flexibility and meaningful local experiences. We also seek to continually innovate to support the customer experience and have developed a bespoke, trip manager app to give our travellers complete control over their trip.
Award-winning New Zealand tour: Everywhere Freestyle Pass.
Award-winning Australia tour: Nat Freestyle Pass (Sydney to Byron Bay, return)
Winner: Best Transport (New Zealand)
Finalist: Best Transport (Australia)
This award celebrates airline, train, coach, campers/hire vehicles and marine companies who allow connectivity & dispersal across geographic locations for youth/adventure travellers.
Stray won this award for our itineraries that connect travellers to off the beaten track destinations in New Zealand and Australia. Where most companies just stick to the main centres and just travel express from A - B, Stray specialises in going off the highways, into the National Parks, to special places, further off the beaten track. We call these places our Strademark Places. We go to all the main hot spots too of course - we don't want our travellers to miss out on anything!
2019 New Zealand Tourism Awards
Winner: Community Engagement Award
The Community Engagement Award recognises a business that is a leader in engaging and supporting vibrant communities. It has a well thought out and executed programme to successfully engage with the communities in which it operates.
Stray won this award for our 'Strademark Experience' at Lake Aniwhenua in the North Island of New Zealand. Lake Aniwhenua is off the beaten track, in a part of rural New Zealand most tourists wouldn't visit. However, we recognised that by bringing our travellers here, we could give them an authentic, modern day, Maori cultural experience and enrich an impoverished community at the same time. A local Maori family owns the lodge at beautiful Lake Aniwhenua. They welcome guests in a traditional way and teach them about Maori customs and history. A traditional hangi feast, cooked under the ground, is served for dinner. The following morning, we head to the local school, with parcels of left over hangi to donate to children that don't have lunch and to spend time with the children in the classroom, teaching them about the world, expanding their horizons and fuelling future ambitions.
2019 Qualmark Business Award
Winner: Gold Sustainable Tourism Business Award
Qualmark provides evidence that a business has been independently validated as a quality tourism business. This is New Zealand tourism’s official quality assurance organisation and independent accreditation for tourism businesses. A Qualmark Gold Award is their highest accolade, recognising the best sustainably operated tourism businesses in New Zealand. To be awarded Gold, a business must be delivering exceptional customer experiences and leading the way to make New Zealand a world-class and sustainable destination.
Stray has been awarded the prestigious Gold Sustainable Tourism Award by Qualmark for the sixth year running.
Stray won this award for our commitment to:
- Protecting what makes New Zealand beautiful through our conservation work at Blue Duck Station, native tree planting, and coastal clean up efforts
- Enhancing local communities through our community engagement programme at Lake Aniwhenua and the other ways we aim to Make a Difference
- Delivering a high quality and safe experience for customers.
2019 GoAbroad Top Rated Organisation & Program Awards
The annual GoAbroad Top Rated Organisations & Program Awards are based on the quantity of authentic traveller reviews and ratings as well as other measures of participant satisfaction.
Winner: Top Rated Adventure Travel Program Award
Stray won the Top Rated Adventure Travel Program award for their Asia tours and passes. Stray Asia has received an overall rating of 8.50 with some travellers describing their Stray experience as "life changing", "highly recommended", "easy and comfortable" and "best experience".
Winner: Top Rated Organisation Award
Stray won the Top Rated Adventure Travel Provider award for their New Zealand trips. Stray NZ has received an overall rating of 9.39 with some travellers describing their Stray experience as "best trip ever", "amazing", "unbelievable" and "no regrets".
2018 Tour Radar Traveller's Choice Award
Gold Status
The Travellers' Choice recognition badge is awarded to tour operators with the best overall feedback from the TourRadar community. These prestigious statuses recognise operators that are leading the way in creating outstanding travel experiences. Gold Status recognises extremely high-performing tour operators; consistent ratings above 4 stars and reviews present on at least 20% of tours listed.
Stray New Zealand and Asia have won this award for great traveller reviews: