Setting the tourism standard

By SIMON HENDERY

The country's biggest tourist town needs to turn its mind to the quality of what it is offering visitors, says the head of the Qualmark ratings and endorsement scheme.

Five months ago, Qualmark, which has traditionally rated accommodation providers, expanded its service to include endorsements of visitor transport, activity and service businesses.

Although she hasn't studied the numbers, chief executive Fiona Luhrs says that 70 per cent of visitors arrive in Auckland.

Because of that, she says, the city has a huge potential to increase tourism revenue - if businesses embrace the quality assurance system.

"While Auckland has been busy with the America's Cup, some of the other regions have leapt ahead in terms of the number of tourism businesses that are now graded or endorsed under the Qualmark licensing system," Luhrs says.

"Rotorua and Queenstown are leading the pack in terms of coming on board with their leading businesses, both large and small. Christchurch is also doing particularly well."

Qualmark has more than 800 operators on its books.

They pay a one-off $175 joining fee plus a monthly fee based on the size of the business, to be part of the system.

A small bed and breakfast or motel pays $37 a month, a tourism business with six staff pays $60 and a 200-room hotel will pay $146. Since the system was extended to include non-accommodation providers, more than 80 have received endorsement.

Qualmark - 51 per cent owned by Tourism New Zealand and 49 per cent by the Automobile Association - has ambitious plans to expand the system.

It wants to have 3000 to 4000 operators within the next three or four years, number Luhrs says are achievable.

Operators get, on a single document, a set of the tourism industry's expectations in terms of how they run their business and deliver their service, she says.

"It's incredibly powerful for an operator, particularly those who aren't seasoned tourism operators.

"This is giving them standards, and then coming and assessing against those standards and giving them feedback.

"It identifies opportunities for improvement and lets them know what they're doing really well that they need to keep doing."

An added incentive for membership is that Qualmark businesses are given priority listing on Tourism NZ's website, purenz.com.