Our People

Online Tourism TV is a small, New Zealand-owned company – and that’s how we like it!  The business owner has always worked in tourism and travel and really understands it.  The Information Technology part of the business is managed by people who really know IT.  We are not a corporate giant but a friendly and helpful team of dedicated people helping to effectively market the New Zealand tourism product here and all over the world.

Online Tourism TV is based in Nelson – the geographical centre of New Zealand, and the sunshine capital! 

John Stokes Managing Director   "Online Tourism TV is essentially a web directory for the tourism industry… it’s up-to-date, effective and affordable" – John Stokes

John has always been in the tourism business – upon leaving school, he took up a cadetship with the NZ Government Tourist Bureau in Wellington. At the end of that three year period he departed on his big OE. Returning a few years later, he took up a position with Atlantic & Pacific Travel in Auckland, as Product Manager for Gitaway Holidays – these were the days when people still took package holidays! He then went retailing, and eventually ended up as the Northern Area Manager with the Holiday Shoppe chain.

Years later, John and family decided to re-locate to Canterbury. Here he took on more travel and tourism work before settling into the role of marketing and promoting the town of Rangiora. Here John used his marketing skills to foster pride amongst the locals in their town, and to build a visitor market – John now knows that any town - big or small - can make an appealing offer to tourists.

John then bought one of the six editions that make up the Tourist Times newspaper group.  He built this business up before selling it as profitable concern. The next project was soon found in another value-for-money product for tourism, but using the digital media. The opportunity to buy Online Tourism TV came up, and he jumped at it.

“Online Tourism TV is essentially a web directory for the tourism industry, and offers the same value-for-money formula of Tourist Times – it’s up-to-date, effective and affordable for any sized business!”, says John. John formed a new company called One Planet Ltd – reflecting the global information tourism age that we operate in – and set about restructuring the business and redesigning the website into one that is easy to understand, to use and to find.

Alice Grammer IT Manager   "…a natural tendency for problem solving and helping people out." – Alice Grammer

When Alice applied for the job as IT Manager for Online Tourism TV, her letter said that she was “pretty much a geeky girl Friday with a natural tendency for problem solving and towards helping people out”. This has proven to be quite true, as Alice has assisted the business with anything from office systems to sorting out IT issues as and when they arise.

In turn, Alice finds the variety of work and the friendliness within the company – and in the tourism industry – as being so appealing.

Alice has a strong IT background, with experience in web design, graphic design, movie and slideshow making as well as the more technical aspects such as phpMyDirectory, the software which Online Tourism TV is based on. She is also knowledgeable about online technology, such as the social networks that Online Tourism TV makes available to our advertisers.

Alice has also travelled the world, and she lived for a couple of years in London and on Australia’s Gold Coast. Married to an accountant at the Tasman District Council, Alice considers Nelson home! She scoots around “sun city” in her racy blue Mini or on her motorbike.

Chris Alley IT Developer   "Online Tourism TV is a modern website using an up-to-date means of advertising: online video" – Chris Alley

Chris studied information technology in Christchurch, and is now a developer and database administrator by profession. Chris has also travelled, and was keen to work in IT within the New Zealand tourism industry. He joined Online Tourism TV in the early stages and became the IT Manager.

What attracted Chris to Online Tourism TV was the forward-looking web technology that the website uses – video. His professional thinking was invaluable again in the early part of this year, altering and revising the content and layout even further to refine the website to its current, easy-to-use form.

One of the aspects Chris has enjoyed about the work with Online Tourism TV is the freedom to work remotely. As Chris has now re-located from Nelson to Dunedin to study, this is a benefit to Online Tourism TV as Chris is continuing to tweak the Online Tourism TV website, to ensure its optimum performance.