Tauranga based New Zealand Educational Tours (NZET) has been recognized as one of New Zealand's leading businesses by being licensed to carry the Qualmark - New Zealand official endorsement of quality for tourism operators.

NZET is a well respected inbound tour operator which specialises in providing group tours of New Zealand for the educational and special interest markets.

The Qualmark programme is designed to identify trustworthy and professional operators to enable international operators to buy tourism services with confidence.

To gain its Qualmark endorsement, NZET underwent an on-site assessment using criteria developed with the tourism industry and based on research into what travellers want.

Operations Director Adele Marsden says the new Qualmark endorsement is important for marketing to international visitors. "It's a rigorous process that really focuses on the systems and services that we have in place - covering things like customer service and feedback, health and safety practices, our commitment to the environment and community for example. The endorsement provides reassurance to potential visitors that we are good operators and are really going to look after them. We think it's important for visitors to have these official and independent benchmarks to refer to when they're making decisions about how to spend their time and money."

Qualmark's endorsement system sits alongside its star grading system for accommodation. Over 2100 accommodation and other tourism businesses have been through the assessment process and are licensed to use the Qualmark mark of quality.

Qualmark is a joint venture of Tourism New Zealand and New Zealand Automobile Association and is backed by the New Zealand Tourism Industry Association and other leading industry organizations. It is the way the industry directs travellers to quality assured products and services.

Source: fourcorners.co.nz