In 1996, Jonathan Kruse had an idea to revolutionise self-drive travel. His passion for driving his classic car and exploring every road riding his motorbike, led him to want to share all that this wonderful country has to offer to the traveller, without having to open a guide book.

His idea was to develop a ‘magic box’ that could utilise GPS satellite technology and automatically play audio commentaries at specific points of interest.

Over the next 4 years, he embarked on an exciting journey, researching and recording all of what the Kruse Audio Guide is today and as the company grew, his retired father, Neil came on board to help run the day to day operations.

By late 1999, the value of the Kruse Audio Guide was being rapidly embraced by the tourism industry both here and overseas. As well as tour coach companies, campervan and rental car operators and Tranz Rail in New Zealand, North American tourism operators including Canada's VIA Rail and a raft of sightseeing tour companies in the cities of Halifax, Denver, Seattle, Vancouver and Savannah were using the Kruse technology.

Although international expansion is still progressing, Kruse NZ continues to be a small yet passionately run family business. Jonathan and Neil have never lost the passion for what they do or the wonder of travelling around this beautiful country. Their focus was and still is, to continue to find excuses to vacate the office to explore and discover more of New Zealands hidden highlights to include in the Kruse Audio Guide.

 

"Our goal has always been to provide you, the visitor who has chosen to independently explore New Zealand by rental car, motor-home and campervan, with a truly memorable experience of your time here. That’s a goal has never changed since we commenced the development of the Kruse® Audio Guide in 1996."

Jonathan Kruse