"Kiwifruit Country" is a well known tourist attraction in Tauranga, the kiwifruit-growing region of New Zealand. An enormous sculpture of a slice of kiwifruit stands at the broad entrance to the park. Nobody could miss such an eye-catching sight.

When you enter the park, you see trees and flowers everywhere. Inside the wood- built visitor center, all kinds of kiwifruit- related goods are on sale: jam, wine, chocolate, soap, makeup, and even a fuzzy doll in the shape of a kiwifruit.

Direct your glance outward: all varieties of kiwifruit, grown with many different methods, are lined up row upon row. Though at the time of our visit it was winter-when most kiwifruit orchards in the country had been picked clean-here the vines were still heavy with fruit. This is so visitors could see the state of kiwifruit growing on the vines with their own eyes.

As you look, the rotund little kiwi train is about to leave. Don't just stand there in the visitor center looking at kiwifruit videos. Why not get on board the adorable little "sightseeing cars" and let the handsome guide take you for a trip!

A state-run enterprise?

Virtually all visitors to Kiwifruit Country, taking in the highly educational theme and facilities, and the inexhaustible promotion of New Zealand's trademark the kiwifruit, jump to the conclusion that this is a government-run park.

The staff of the Kiwifruit Marketing Board know full well, of course, that Kiwi-fruit Country is privately run. But when the boss-Taiwan-born Michael Liao-appears, even they are dumbfounded.

How could this be?

Going back to the beginning, it's true that the founder of the park was connected to the government. It was Mike Moore, who was minister of tourism in 1987 and later became prime minister.

As for how Michael Liao-who had never before had anything to do with kiwifruit-came into control, that was pure chance. In 1990, Liao and his wife were traveling in New Zealand when they came to visit Kiwifruit Country, where they took a ride on the sightseeing train. The guide introduced the park to them, chatting about personal things on the side. He explained that he was about to lose his job, because the park owner had put down a huge initial investment, too much of which was a loan, and-with New Zealand's economy in the doldrums, interest rates running at 21%, and few visitors-it was impossible for the owner to hold on. The only thing to do was close up shop, and leave it to the banks to run. But the banks also were unable to turn things around, and, running ever-deeper into the red, they decided to sell it cheap, and began looking for a buyer.

Michael Liao had completed immigration procedures in 1989. When he heard about the park, it seemed like an investment opportunity not to be missed. After all, the kiwifruit is a special product of New Zealand, the park is quite large, and the facilities are first-rate. Indeed, at first even Liao assumed that it had been a state-run enterprise. A graduate of Chiao Tung University and an engineer by trade, Liao wanted to get into the tourist trade after immigrating, so he decided to go talk things over.

Little did he expect that the enormous orchards, the visitor center, and the offices were going for a total of only a few tens of millions of NT dollars (with NT$10 million equal to about US$375,000). For many industrious middle-level entrepreneurs in Taiwan, that figure is small change. After doing the math, Liao used his own money to buy the park outright, so he had no debt or interest payments. All he had to do, he figured, was run the place well, and develop some new markets, and everything would be fine.

Chinese dragon in Kiwi Country

After taking over, he added new equipment. Besides the original kiwifruit, persimmon, orange and lemon groves, as well as the kiwifruit packaging plant (in which the park had a stake and which was open to tour groups), Liao constructed a dragon-shaped maze, a castle, and other tourist attractions.

While the new construction did not always fit in with the original natural setting, it did begin to attract local kids to the park. "Fortunately the land was already zoned for tourism, so it was easy to get construction permits." Today, Kiwifruit Country is a popular spot for outdoor education for local school kids.

Liao also strove to tap the Asian market. Coordinating with activities sponsored by the New Zealand tourism bureau, he frequently traveled to Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, and other countries to promote the park. In his first year, the number of visitors to Kiwifruit Country increased 100%, and from the second year on the number has continued to grow at 15% per year.

In terms of management, he first replaced people not suited to their jobs, and made further cutbacks in the off-peak winter season, thus lowering costs. "The first two years were really hard," Liao recalls. When you talk about doing business, Taiwan may have expensive land costs and rising wages, but it is densely populated, the market is large, and there are lots of opportunities. New Zealand, on the other hand, has a small, spread-out population, and one cannot seek high profits or absolutely no one will do business with you. "You can't make any windfall profits here," he says decisively.

Though Liao had no interest payments, personnel costs were high. At the beginning, when the economy had yet to recover, to save expenses Liao did a lot of things personally-cutting the grass, picking fruit. . . . "At first, my friends who stayed in Auckland would call all the time to see how it was going. It seems they had decided that sooner or later we would have to surrender and go back to Auckland," laughs Liao. But now things are on track, and, though his wife still spends every day looking after the business, Liao frequently has time to go golfing. "Though you can't compare the situation with Taiwan, I'm still making a go of it."

Liao took over a "run-down shopfront" no one else wanted. Now he employs a staff comprised entirely of local residents, and local electronics, plumbing, and dry goods shops, as well as restaurants, have had an increase in business. Michael Liao has injected vitality into a lot more than just Kiwi-fruit Country.

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Michael Liao and his wife have gone from visitors to hosts at Kiwifruit Country. (photo by Hsueh Chi-kuang)