She's booked fishing trips for Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, created travel itineraries for some of the US's top corporate executives and is a leisure-tourism expert on New Zealand.

Travel guru Anne Van Dyke's extensive career in international travel has combined the best of high-end, luxury tourism with holidays in spectacular spots that most travellers can afford to enjoy.

The former actress and mother of two, has spent more than 20 years in the industry and initiated and hosted a travel slot on national Breakfast TV. She is regularly called on for media comment regarding the international travel scene and believes professional travel advice is imperative for savvy travellers.

"The most important aspect of travel is matching your personality to your destination," says Van Dyke who is one of New Zealand's most successful travel brokers. "Kiwis are great travellers but we all need intelligent advice about where to spend our dollars best." Van Dyke entered the travel industry by chance. After graduating with an English degree from the University of Auckland, the aspiring actress left for drama school in the UK but instead met her Californian husband and entered the world of American movies and theatre.

Between her roles on set, Van Dyke would book travel and accommodation for the film companies, eventually taking on a number of corporate clients on an individual basis. Soon she had set up business in San Francisco, Silicone Valley and later Washington state, booking boutique and luxury accommodation in New Zealand and Australia for wealthy American clients.

"Crocodile Dundee had just come out and suddenly Down Under was "the" place to visit," she recalls. "The luxury market was only just beginning here but often my clients wanted to experience the real flavour of a country."

Over the next decade Van Dyke became one of Air New Zealand and Tourism New Zealand's top agents, booking holidays for at least 150 prominent American clients. But even after 22 years away, the pull of New Zealand was too great. Five years ago she moved home for good.

"I like to think I know New Zealand upside down and back to front," she laughs. "And I also know Australia, the US and the Pacific thoroughly as well. But what really matters to me is offering sound, independent advice to Kiwi travellers plus pointing out the pitfalls of a badly planned holiday."

From choosing exactly the right hotel for your toddler to making the most of 10 days in Egypt, Van Dyke has been sharing with her television and radio audience the secrets of smart travel. "I'm interested in people who want to see more than the other side of the hotel," she says. And the burgeoning eco-tourism and food and wine tourism markets have quickly become a speciality.

At present you may hear Anne talking travel on NewstalkZB radio...or look out for one of her many travel articles.

For her latest tailor made packages simply "click" on "Anne's Journeys".

Update: Anne is at present developing unique packages aimed at the largest growing travel market... the female traveller. These will focus on both New Zealand and overseas destinations. Click here to view the latest packages.

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