Pukaha sanctuary excelling in tourism

SCENIC: Walkways at Pukaha Mt Bruce.

Pukaha Mt Bruce has gained two tourism industry endorsements.

International travel website TripAdvisor has awarded the wildlife sanctuary a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence and have increased their existing Qualmark status by 15 per cent.

This certification is only awarded to establishments that consistently achieve outstanding reviews from travellers on www.tripadvisor.com.

Qualmark is New Zealand tourism's official quality assurance organisation.

Each Qualmark licence holder is independently assessed against a set of national quality standards.

Pukaha increased its score from 76 per cent to 91 per cent.

Pukaha holds a Qualmark Enviro Gold status, which is awarded to businesses which attain the highest level of environmental and social responsibilities and advocates strong leadership and advocacy.

General manager Helen Tickner said this was a "fantastic result", achieving in two areas they prided themselves on - customer service and best practice tourism processes.

"I could not be more proud of the team of staff and volunteers at Pukaha."