More than 50 travel agents from India and South East Asia visited New Zealand this month to wrap up a year of up-skilling themselves on New Zealand. Tourism New Zealand’s Regional Manager South and South East Asia, Steven Dixon says it was fantastic to be able to bring these agents to New Zealand to show them first-hand what they’ve been learning about.
He further said, “By coming on the trip the agents ticked off the final requirement to become Gold 100% Pure New Zealand Specialists – a visit to New Zealand. We are confident that the knowledge the agents acquired by experiencing New Zealand themselves will help them to better sell New Zealand as a holiday destination to their clients.”
The agents landed in Auckland where a one day workshop was held with 25 regional tourism organisations (RTO’s) before they headed out around the country. Consumer insights and product updates were shared between the agents and RTO’s through one-on-one meetings. Tourism New Zealand also provided a market update before the workshop concluded with an award ceremony to recognise the agents becoming Gold specialists.
Gil Abercrombie from Enterprise Dunedin says the workshop provided a great opportunity to build awareness of New Zealand’s regions with agents committed to promoting New Zealand to their growing outbound markets. “In-destination training events such as this don’t just build agents’ knowledge of New Zealand, they also increase their confidence in our ability as RTO’s to satisfy their clients’ expectations.”
Tourism New Zealand worked with the regional tourism organisations to develop three different itineraries for the agents. The two North Island groups explored Auckland, Waitomo, Hamilton, Matamata, Rotorua, Taupō, Napier, Wairarapa and Wellington. In the South Island the agents spent time in Canterbury, Queenstown, Central Otago and Dunedin.
