Agrodome's Warren Harford has been recognised with the Red Stag Phil Verry Business Person of the Year 2010 title.
This award was announced last night at the Westpac Rotorua Business Excellence Awards.
Harford is the managing director of the Agrodome and a long-serving member of the Rotorua Tourism Advisory board, of which
he is currently chairman.
The panel of peers which decided the award says he has a strong vision and passion for Rotorua, and applies his marketing expertise and national-level experience to support the Rotorua business community.
This is the second major accolade for the tourism leader this year. In August he received an individual award from the Inbound Tour Operators Council after 18 years on its board - including 14 years as vice president.
His experience at this national level was described by new council vice president, Rainbow Springs general manager Stewart Brown, as vitally important for Rotorua's tourism industry.
Harford has been involved in lobbying the Government on various sector issues and was part of the team that introduced the approved destination status (ADS) system for inbound operators that opened up opportunities in China.
Rotorua's Agrodome has regularly been recognised nationally as a top tourism business with its innovative approach to creating a cluster of adventure activities.
This model has seen the Agrodome grow from a sheep show with seating for 54 people in 1970 to a destination with a sheep show for up to 800, farm tours and adventure activities that attracted more than 267,000 visitors in the last year.
Coverage of the Westpac Rotorua Business Excellence Awards continues next week with a social picture page on Monday and a photo spread of all winners on Wednesday. Post Business will be profiling each of the winners during the coming weeks.
