Leisure Time Group, New Zealand, has purchased Auckland-based event management company; Lime & Soda.
The event management brand is the latest to join the group’s family of brands specialising in travel and events
throughout New Zealand and Australia.
The Leisure Time Group operates five other brands including Leisure Time Tours; a New Zealand touring company with a
travel club and its own fleet of motor coaches, Travel Time South Pacific; an Inbound Tour Operator creating quality
ground arrangements for international wholesalers and travel agents, and Vokali; a Destination Management Company
working with associations and corporate clients around the globe to create unforgettable event and incentive
experiences.
Lime & Soda are a full-service creative event management company specialising in conferences, team building, corporate events,
festivals, event styling, and event concepts.
The acquisition will strengthen Leisure Time Group’s events division and enable an even broader range of creative event
offerings for their international and local clientele.
“Lime & Soda perfectly complements our overall events and M.I.C.E offerings enabling us to provide stronger and focussed
resources for our event clients,” said Scott Mehrtens, Managing Director of Leisure Time Group.
“Our acquisition of Lime & Soda may appear to come at an unusual time with the country currently in COVID-19 lockdown, but we’ve been working on
this for some time and while we’ve had to postpone some imminent events its really exciting to see the high level of
enquiries we are receiving for events to be held later in the year.
“This investment adds to our capacity, geographic presence, dedicated events staff, and enables us to support increasing
numbers of event and incentive enquiries and workload. I’m thrilled that Debra will be managing our events division,
including our DMC brand; Vokali. Her longstanding experience in events and her strong creative flair is much appreciated
by both our suppliers and clients.”
Debra Dufty, previous business owner of Lime & Soda, will be joining Leisure Time Group and heading the Events/M.I.C.E team with immediate effect. Debra said she was
excited to be joining forces with an outstanding, experienced and forward-thinking family-business.
Debra said, “It’s very exciting to be working now as part of a larger team including experienced and passionate event
and travel professionals. The strengths and knowledge within our team help us create and deliver fun and creative event
solutions for our clients.”
About Lime & Soda
Debra Dufty started the business in 2009 in Wellington, at that time trading as WATevents. The business relocated to
Auckland eight years ago and in 2015 rebranded to Lime & Soda. The event management business focuses predominantly on corporate events such as conferences, meetings, roadshows,
awards dinners, functions, theming, styling, team building, and public activations. They have an extensive client base
and enjoy being known as a creative events company, working outside the box and defying the norm.
About Leisure Time Group
A family-owned events and travel business with a head office in Hamilton, Waikato and originally established in 1987 as
Leisure Time Tours. Proud to have been providing inspirational and unforgettable experiences for over thirty years. In
this time the business has grown significantly and is now represented by six quality travel and events brands.
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