The founder, former chairman and managing director of one of the country’s biggest tourism companies, Skyline Enterprises, is now basking in recognition of his lifetime achievements.
Early in July, the company passed the billion-dollar milestone in market capitalisation, valuing Barry Thomas’ 8.2% shareholding at about $60 million.
In June, he was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours as a Companion of the NZ Order of Merit award for his contribution to tourism, media, gaming and sport.
Similar recognition by the Queenstown Chamber of Commerce prompted the local newspaper Mountain Scene – founded by Thomas but subsequently sold to Allied Press, owner of the Otago Daily Times – to describe him as the “tourism king who earned his crown.”
He was Skyline’s chairman for 33 years and is credited with launching its luge operations, which now operate in Canada, Singapore, South Korea and Wales (in development). He was also instrumental in obtaining New Zealand's first casino licence in Christchurch as well as Queenstown, and overseeing a $60m buy-up of Queenstown CBD properties.
Thomas, 73, is now represented on the Skyline group boardroom by his son Richard, while the other son, Lyndon, manages Skyline Queenstown.
Skyline’s interests include the gondola and luge businesses in Queenstown and Rotorua as well as Christchurch Casino and The Helicopter Line.
The announcement of the $1b market capitalisation on Unlisted was accompanied by some preliminary figures indicating its trading profit was up 12% to $56.9m after one-offs that included a writedown of goodwill in the Christchurch casino and property revaluations. If it were listed on the NZX, that value would put it ahead of The Warehouse Group and Restaurant Brands.
The casinos and their charitable trusts have distributed more than $4m to community groups. Thomas has also been a board member of Christchurch International Airport, Queenstown Airport Corporation and the New Zealand Rugby Union as well as several tourism-related organisations.
Photo: Stuff