The anatomy of a magic moment on a guided, all-inclusive, multiday adventure in New Zealand from a guide's perspective

Author: Lauren Moyes

Supervisors: Alexa Forbes Richard Mitchell

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16 December 2025

 

Moyes, L. (2025). The anatomy of a magic moment on a guided, all-inclusive, multiday adventure in New Zealand from a guide's perspective [Master's thesis, Otago Polytechnic]. Research Bank. https://doi.org/10.34074/thes.7196

 

Abstract

This research explores the anatomy of a ‘magic moment’ from a guide’s perspective in New Zealand’s multi-day adventure tourism industry. While much of the existing tourism literature focuses on visitors, their emotions, memories, and experiences, this study shifts the focus to the people who make those moments possible: the guides. Guided by an interpretivist paradigm and constructivist ontology, this qualitative research draws on a phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences of seven experienced adventure guides, using wānanga style semi-structured interviews. Using thematic analysis, five central themes emerged as the building blocks of magic moments: surprise, connection, fundamentals, achievement, and the natural environment. These elements together reveal that magic moments are not random; they are carefully created through empathy, intuition, planning, and genuine connection between people and place. A significant finding was that transformation has become an expectation rather than a potential outcome of tourism experiences. Guests now arrive seeking personal growth and self-discovery within condensed timeframes, placing new emotional and professional demands on guides. This expectation has major implications for future guiding practice and education, particularly around training and emotional labour. The findings highlight that soft skills, empathy, listening, adaptability, and resilience, are not secondary to guiding; they are guiding. Training programmes must move away from theory based, classroom models and return to outdoor, experiential learning that mirrors the environments in which guides actually work. At an industry level guides must be recognised; not as seasonal or temporary workers, but as professionals who hold the emotional and transformative heart of New Zealand tourism. Their insights should be central to policy, training, and strategic planning to ensure a more sustainable future for both people and place. Ultimately, this research argues that guides see changes in tourism long before the industry does. They understand the realities, pressures, and possibilities of transformation first-hand; however, their voices are rarely heard. There is much to be learned from the guides themselves, if only the industry is willing to listen.

 

Keywords

magic moment, New Zealand adventure tourism, tourism guides, soft skills

 

Licence

A copy of the thesis is publicly available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.

This licence applies except where otherwise indicated, especially for images.