Tourism leader packs his bags

Helmsman: Dennis Pickup steered THL through stormy times. Picture / Getty Images

Corporate troubleshooter Dennis Pickup may not have stayed at the helm of Tourism Holdings for quite so long if it hadn't been for the "perfect storm" that hit the business in 2001 and 2002.

September 11, the collapse of Ansett, the Government bailout of Air New Zealand, the Sars outbreak and the Iraq war added up to a year-long nightmare for the tourism sector.

"I've never been through a week like that," says Pickup of the period when the World Trade Centre and Ansett collapsed, and Air New Zealand was teetering.

"Then to come out and get hit by Sars and Iraq in the same financial year was, as I say, the perfect storm. But at least I didn't get killed like George Clooney did [in the movie of the same name]."

Pickup announced last week he would leave Tourism Holdings at the end of March after more than seven years running New Zealand's largest tourism company.

As with all the businesses Pickup has led over the past 26 years, he will leave THL in a very different state to how he found it.

When he joined in 1998 it was a sprawling conglomerate of more than 60 subsidiaries scattered around the globe, dabbling in everything from hotels and ski fields to helicopter tours.

Today, after dozens of asset sales and a major restructure, it has a head office staff of only seven and a tight focus on its three core businesses of tourism attractions (including Kelly Tarlton's and the Waitomo Glowworm Caves), coaches (including Johnston's) and campervan rentals (including Britz and Maui).

Pickup says the company was able to weather the 2001-2002 period because the restructuring was well under way and the board and management were quick to buy into a "cash is king" survival strategy.

After slumping to below 90c following September 11, the company's shares have recovered to hover around $2.

"THL now needs someone to really drive the revenue base. The asset base and the cost structures are good. They need someone really, really focused on driving the existing businesses."

The 60-year-old says he plans to "have another crack" at a business turn-around next year.

"I've got six months of driving THL then I'm going to walk the Abel Tasman in April and we'll just see what arises, but I'm not retiring from business."

He is upbeat about the tourism industry's prospects, although he says recruitment remains an issue.

"There are qualified chefs, there are qualified people with degrees from Europe that aren't being allowed into New Zealand and that's going to hold us back because we need those people."

THL chairman Keith Smith said the board expects to find a replacement for Pickup before he leaves.

"[Pickup] positioned the company for its next stage of life. I think we're in a state now where we're looking at someone more orientated in marketing and sales."

Dennis Pickup

* Managing director & CEO, Tourism Holdings

* Age: 60

* Education: Commerce degree majoring in accounting

* Career: 1967 - UDC1971 - Freightways1988 - Lion Nathan1993 - Auckland Healthcare1996 - Armourguard1998 - THL

* Biggest business influences: Freightways founder Sir Russell Pettigrew and his successor Trevor Farmer. "They taught me management skills which aren't necessarily in the Harvard Business School of Management."