New business development tools help tourism operators

April 3, 2007: Thousands of tourism operators around New Zealand will benefit from a new business development tool just launched by the Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA).

 

A media release from TIA says Tourism in Action - resources for successful tourism businesses combines cutting edge software with an easy to use CD that will help tourism operators build better businesses.

 

The CD was developed by The Small Business Company Ltd, New Zealand's largest small business development company which is a worldwide expert in building best practice small business support tools. It is believed to be the first such business improvement tool developed for the particular needs of a specific sector.

 

"Tourism is a vibrant and attractive sector to set up a business in.  But we know that the 8000 or so small owner-operated businesses in the sector are so busy with the day-to-day running of their businesses that they have little time to think about developing and growing them," TIA chief executive Fiona Luhrs says.

 

"Research has shown us that tourism operators want to run successful, profitable businesses but many lack suitable development tools.  This new CD makes it as easy as possible for them to discover ways to develop and improve their business."

 

Eight modules cover developing an idea into a product ready for discerning international travellers and assessing business performance through to promoting a business in its target markets and lifting the quality of the product to world class standards.

 

The CD user's thoughts and ideas can be entered into an action plan which can be printed or saved to their computer's hard drive.  The CD is a resource that users can return to again and again.

 

The new Tourism in Action CD is available free to TIA members.

 

TIA has also launched a companion workbook, Tourism in Action - a guide to starting and developing your tourism business.

The Tourism in Action workbook has been developed to help people make informed decisions on whether they have what it takes to operate a successful tourism business.

 

The workbook contains recent examples of best business practice as well as information on meeting regulatory requirements, setting quality standards and planning marketing, distribution and sales.

 

The Tourism in Action workbook has been designed to work with Tourism New Zealand's publication Give it 100% - an introductory guide to marketing and developing your tourism product, available at http://www.tourismnewzealand.com/ 

 

"Creating and developing sustainable businesses is vital to the long-term success of New Zealand's multi-billion dollar tourism industry.  TIA hopes that these resources will help achieve that aim,"  Luhrs says.

 

Both of these resources have been developed in association with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.

 

To request a workbook or CD, email info@tianz.org.nz