Interesting that the New Zealand Herald reviewed the Qualmark Travel Guide earlier this week.
Qualmark NZ partnered with their minority shareholder, the AA to produce another paper based travel guide to add to the scrum of existing publications.
For those concerned about the irony of an organisation focused on the green credentials of their subscribers, there is no need to fear about the wanton pillaging of additional pine trees. The second publication due later this year will be made from recycled material.
The guide exclusively contains Qualmark rated tourism product and most of the content has been cut and pasted from existing advertisements in the AA Accommodation Guide.
Who funded the Guide?
This is a good question. The annual licence fee that Qualmark tourism operators pay to be quality assessed doesn't fully pay for their participation in the scheme, so this has not been paid from subscriber's funds. Besides, this publication was generously offered as a "free add-on" to Qualmark rated businesses.
The AA collated and printed the publication and we wouldn't have expected this member organisation to cover all costs.... so, we can safely assume that the New Zealand taxpayer is a major investor in this 900 + page guide with an initial print run of 15,000.
Why has the guide been produced?
Qualmark have often been criticised by the tourism industry for their lack of visibility to the traveling public, so this publication will go some way in alleviating these concerns.
There is also another reason that is not so obvious. Tourism New Zealand has been signaling for some time that Qualmark rated businesses will soon be the only tourism product that will be marketed overseas. The Qualmark Travel Guide will be used as a major tool by Tourism New Zealand to promote selected product at the expense of other tax paying new Zealand businesses.
This raises some interesting questions.
As a majority shareholder in Qualmark NZ Ltd, should The Ministry of Tourism apply substantial taxpayers funds exclusively to businesses that have a Qualmark licence?
Is there a conflict of interest here??
Do our tourism leaders have a position on this?
4 May 2009
Jim Eagles
REVIEWS THE QUALMARK 2009 NEW ZEALAND TRAVEL GUIDE
The big plus for this guide is that, because Qualmark is the official mark for tourism quality here, you know the businesses listed have survived an annual check on their standards.
The downside is that if there isn't any Qualmark-approved accommodation in the area you're going to visit ... you're out in the cold.... For More: Click HERE
