TIA Endorses NZ Tourism Strategy

Tourism Industry Association Endorses NZ Tourism Strategy

Tourism Industry Association (TIA) Chief Executive John Moriarty said today that the TIA fully endorsed the goals of the New Zealand Tourism Strategy, released today, and would work with the tourism industry to ensure goals relevant to the industry were implemented.

¡§TIA was fully involved in the development of the Strategy, through former CEO Glenys Coughlan being a part of the Strategy Group. There are many issues for the industry to think about and TIA will be active in implementing those relevant to us,¡¨ Mr Moriarty said.

¡§The first step for TIA will be to quantify the objectives of the Strategy from a membership point of view and then work to implement them.

¡§Issues that TIA will work on that fall out of this strategy include:

„h Lead amalgamation of industry group¡¦s where that is in the best interests of the industry and is agreed by those affected.

„h Progress the enhancement of value for the small and medium sized tourism operators.

„h Assist in the understanding of the quality and business excellence initiatives and the transfer of specific programmes to Qualmark.

„h Focus on issues that will increase profitability or yield in certain sector groups.
„h TIA will work with RTO¡¦s to manage through the rationalisation of RTOs¡¦ or some back office functions. This will obviously be done in full consultation with the RTO¡¦s and members.

¡§TIA is also supportive of the new joint venture ¡§New TNZ¡¨. Industry has been asking for quite some time to have real input into the destinational marketing undertaken by Tourism New Zealand. This new partnership model will give industry a real voice in the direction that Tourism New Zealand takes. It will be a genuine partnership between Government, which plays an essential policy leadership role for tourism in New Zealand and the private sector that invests capital and creates wealth.

¡§As the principle industry voice for tourism, TIA will work closely with the industry to ensure that industry meets its commitment to the new organisation. The funding mechanism is yet to be decided, but clearly TIA will play a key role in articulating the industry representation on the ¡§New TNZ¡¨ board.

¡§Tourism has a very exciting future, and to ensure we realise the goals articulated in the Strategy, we must grasp the messages contained in a whole range of areas. These range from the issue of ensuring environmental and social sustainability, working with the Department of Conservation as a tourism partner, to the advances made in new technology which will impact the businesses of our members. All sectors can better tackle these issues together.

¡§TIA wants to see the profitability and value created for our members enhanced. This strategy contains ways of doing that. The challenge now is for the New Zealand Tourism Strategy to be embraced by the industry and used as a positive tool to enhance their businesses as well as the industry overall,¡¨ Mr Moriarty said.

ENDS

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