Sky Tower - The Leading Visitor Attraction

Sky Tower - The Leading Visitor Attraction At Last Night’s NZ Tourism Awards

Sky Tower, the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere, last night won the Visitor Attraction category in the 2003 New Zealand Tourism Awards.

SKYCITY Entertainment Group General Manager Group Marketing, Heather Shotter, is thrilled to have won this award and says Sky Tower is a highly visible example of the SKYCITY vision “to create fun and entertainment.”

“Sky Tower is a unique fixture on the Auckland landscape offering unsurpassed views of the city and beyond,” says Ms Shotter.

“Since opening, Sky Tower has been increasingly embraced by the community to become an integral part of the Auckland way of life.

“Our commitment to providing great service and a unique experience where the product is always evolving, means Sky Tower continues to provide new reasons for people to visit and is a major tourism draw-card for Auckland City.

“This award represents industry acknowledgement of Sky Tower’s strategy of creating exciting customer experiences, focusing on excellent customer service and constantly refreshing its products,” she says.

In 2002, both Orbit revolving restaurant and Sky Lounge were refurbished. In the last two years, Sky Tower has launched a number of exciting new offerings, broadening the attraction’s appeal – these include:

Sky Jump – a thrilling and world first 192m cable controlled base jump from level 53 of Sky Tower Vertigo Climb – a 44 metre climb up Sky Tower’s internal mast ladder from Sky Tower’s highest viewing deck (Sky Deck) to arrive at the highest outdoor public viewing platform in the southern hemisphere 270 m above sea level The Observatory contemporary buffet restaurant opened in April 2002 Sky Tower’s main observation deck recently introduced three revolutionary “Eye in the Sky Tower” interactive touch screen kiosks enabling visitors to see and learn more about Auckland’s sites of interest In August 2003 the base of Sky Tower and exit entry level was revitalised including the introduction of a new quality gift store and 48 seat theatrette showing the origins of Auckland City and Sky Tower

The New Zealand Tourism Awards were held last night (10 September 2003) in Queenstown and celebrate the best the nation’s tourism has to offer.

Sky Tower facts:

Sky Tower Is New Zealand’s most visited stand-alone tourist attraction (more than 50% of international visitors to the city experience Sky Tower) Some 700,000 visitors to Sky Tower every year Over 50% of Aucklanders have been up Sky Tower at least once Voted “Best Symbol of Auckland” in the Metro Readers poll every year since 1998 Voted Metro Best of Auckland 2002 – Best Tourist Attraction 2003 New Zealand Tourism Awards – Winner - Visitor Attractions category

Fun Facts:

Sky Tower was constructed in 2 years and 8 months and opened in 1998 (pls confirm) Sky tower is 328 metres tall (over 1000 ft) You can travel up Sky Tower at a speedy 40 seconds – 4.6 metres per second Sky Tower weighs 21 million kilos (equivalent of 6000 elephants) There are 1,267 steps from the base of Sky Tower to Sky Deck – the highest indoor public observation deck The glass floor panels of Sky Tower are 44 mm thick and are strong as concrete

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