Air New Zealand today climbed on board Tourism New Zealand’s bid to ensure the quality of the country’s tourism industry operators.
Air NZ spokesman Steve Bayliss told the Trenz (Tourism Rendezvous New Zealand) tourism conference in Christchurch today that the national carrier was now Qualmark certified.
Yesterday, Tourism NZ chief executive George Hickton said tourism operators would need independent quality certification from 2007 to be included in the government body’s move to promote tourism.
The only existing certification which Tourism NZ currently accepted was its Qualmark joint venture with the Automobile Association.
Tourism NZ is seeking to maintain and extend New Zealand’s reputation as a high end tourist destination amid increasing international competition.
Meanwhile, Mr Bayliss also said Air NZ would introduce a Boeing 747-400 aircraft equipped with its new “Business Premier” lie-flat seats and “Pacific Premium Economy” seats on its San Francisco route on August 7.
The airline would start a six-day-a-week service to San Francisco using its new Boeing 777-200 aircraft in November.
More: stuff.co.nz
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The Tourism Board of the Chamber of Commerce in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia has sponsored a number of events on the occasion of the 26th annual “Festival of the Eastern Province”, also known as “Al Wujhah al Sharqiyyah”, launched last month.
Asharq Al Awsat met the Chairman of the Board, Khaled al Nasser, who indicated his committee works closely with the Kingdom’s Tourism Higher Authority to encourage tourism in the Eastern region. Al Nasser added, “The Tourism Board is represented in the National Authority for the Hajj and Umrah which coordinated with the Saudi Higher Tourism Commission and
Tourism industry profits are forecast to grow by a whopping $500 million this year, according to the Conference Board of Canada.
But it's not due to a big increase in tourism. The board's industrial outlook cites an increase in airfares and efforts by operators to contain costs.
The board predicts a profit margin (profits before taxes as a share of revenues) of 2.3 per cent in 2005 - up from 0.9 per cent last year.
"The health of the tourism industry has improved considerably since the SARS crisis in 2003, and profits of $832 million this year would be the
Nepal on Tuesday observed the World Tourism Day under the slogan "Travel and Transport: From the imaginary of Jules Verne to the reality of the 21st Century."
In a program organized by the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Buddhi Raj Bajracharya handed over plaques and certificates to highest foreign currency earners in hotel, travel agency, trekking agency and airlines category for Nepali fiscal year 2004/05 (July 16, 2004 to July 15, 2005), according to a press statement issued by the board.
Bajracharya also gave away
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) hopes to increase the number of foreign students in Singapore from the current 50,000 to 150,000 in the next seven years.
Students come mainly from Japan and other Asian countries, but the STB hopes to expand its outreach programme to include countries in the Middle East.
The programme involves a series of study trips for the foreign students.
The STB hopes that the happy memories of such study trips will lead them to make Singapore their top choice when it comes to studying abroad.
At one such trip, a campfire was organised for a group
In the first of it's kind, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) announced a tie-up with film maker Rakesh Roshan's Flimkraft Productions India Pvt Ltd for his upcoming film 'Krrish'.
According to the deal Roshan will shoot close to 60 per cent of 'Krrish' in Singapore with the STB facilitating the logistics support and ground requirements for the filming.
The board believes that the tie up will lead to accelerated tourism as Indian cinema has a strong following across India and it is an extremely powerful force in shaping the views and opinions of the population.
More: sify.com
