Improve visitor experience to grow tourism dollar

24 March 2014

Improve visitor experience to grow tourism dollar

Improving the customer experience and delivering on promised levels of service is a vital cog in the tourism machinery that must not be overlooked.

Qualmark General Manager Tim Keeling says the strength of New Zealand’s tourism industry rests on the success of the operators who work within it.

“Our industry will only ever be as strong as our worst visitor experience,” Mr Keeling says.

“We need a collective ambition to deliver outstanding experiences and this can only create better value outcomes for our economy.”

Mr Keeling says because of this Qualmark strongly endorses the Tourism Industry Association’s release of the Tourism 2025 aligned framework today.

“Tourism 2025 offers a strategic platform for operators to understand the collective vision for New Zealand tourism.”

Qualmark – a joint venture between Tourism New Zealand and the AA – is the industry’s official quality assurance platform assisting travellers to select high quality accommodation, attractions, transport and services.

Mr Keeling says to remain competitive in a global tourism market, it is critical the tourism sector works together to deliver high quality, unique visitor experiences.

“In this day of instant and often permanent customer reviews, coupled with vastly changing guest expectations, getting the experience right can often be make or break for an operator, a region or even a destination brand.”

Mr Keeling says the Tourism 2025 framework also highlights the importance of both export dollars from international visitors and stimulating the domestic tourism industry.

“Domestic tourism is the lifeblood for many operators. While tourism business are often encouraged to become ‘export ready’ in the delivery of their offering, we should also be working on ensuring all our visitor experiences are ‘Kiwi ready’.”

Mr Keeling says as the New Zealand visitor mix continues to change, Qualmark is working with operators to assist them to better understand customer expectations, measure their current delivery and develop experiences which exceed visitor expectations.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to assist tourism businesses to meet the challenges of Tourism 2025.

ENDS

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