The A-List.
Seven consecutive years.

The Travel + Leisure A-List

Travel + Leisure is one of the world's most widely read luxury travel publications, with a global audience of sophisticated travellers who use its editorial recommendations as a decision-making tool. The A-List is its highest editorial honour for travel specialists: a curated selection of the world's best trip designers, updated annually.

Selection for the A-List is not a simple application process. Travel + Leisure editors and correspondents assess specialists based on client feedback, itinerary quality, depth of destination knowledge, and the kind of access they can provide. To appear once is remarkable. To appear seven consecutive years is a sustained endorsement that reflects consistent, exceptional performance.

Designed From Inside New Zealand

Ahipara was named as a specialist working from inside New Zealand itself. That matters for several reasons.

New Zealand receives significant attention from the global luxury travel market; it is consistently cited as one of the world's most sought-after destinations. But the quality of specialist knowledge available to international clients varies enormously. Most luxury travellers arrive with an itinerary designed by someone who has never been here. The depth of on-the-ground expertise that T+L recognises in its A-List specialists is exceptionally rare in this market.

Ahipara's seven consecutive appearances reflect that depth, built on years of being present in the country, building relationships, and understanding what truly extraordinary New Zealand travel looks like at every price point and every pace.

What A-List Recognition Means for Clients

For clients choosing a New Zealand travel specialist, A-List recognition provides a meaningful independent signal. It means that Travel + Leisure's editorial team — not a client who may have visited once — has assessed the quality of the work and found it worthy of global recommendation.

It also reflects the kind of client relationships that produce that recognition: guests who return, who refer friends, and who provide the kind of detailed feedback that allows an editorial team to assess genuine quality.