Tourism New Zealand and Immigration New Zealand launched an extension of the Tourism Industry Partnership (TIP) programme to enable quicker processing of visitor visa applications for the Indian leisure traveller.
Riding on the success of the previous partnership between Immigration New Zealand (INZ), Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) and important travel agents, the Tourism Industry Partnership (TIP) programme has now been extended to leisure agents. The previous programme took place in November 2014 and it stressed on the business and incentive travel sector. This resulted in the growth of incentive group trips worth NZ $ 22m in four years (FY14-FY17) with a 99 per cent approval rate.
Steven Dixon, regional manager, South and South-East Asia, Tourism New Zealand signed a MoU between INZ, TNZ and key travel agents of India at a ceremony held recently in Mumbai.
Speaking exclusively to Express TravelWorld, Dixon said, “We are targeting the 25-54 age group demographic and from families to multi generational travellers, we hope that this new visa process, with faster processing time will make it easier for these Indian travellers to come to New Zealand and experience the culture and beauty of the country.”
Marcelle Foley, head of operations, Immigration New Zealand commenting on the partnership said, “We hope that with our faster visa processing, Indians that find it usually difficult to plan their leaves way in adavnce, don’t have to worry about last minute plans when it comes to visiting New Zealand. Now with a click of a button, sitting anywhere they can apply for their visas and we hope that in the future we’re able to push ourselves to make the process even more simpler and cumbersome free. We’re very glad that we’re extending this programme to some of the important travel agents in the Indian market.”
Four travel agents were present at the signing, namely, Thomas Cook (India), SOTC Travel, Cox & Kings and Kulin Kumar Holidays who are the preferred suppliers for the TIP Programme and will be responsible for bringing high value visitors to New Zealand.
Karan Anand, head, Relationships and Supplier Management, Cox & Kings, spoke about how the three important C’s. “Connectivity, Consular services and Communication are extremely crucial in any travel industry. Before during April-July, it used to get difficult for visa application, but now the process is much smoother and faster pushing more high spend Indian travellers to visit New Zealand.”
Commenting on the partnership, Vishal Suri, managing director, SOTC Travel said, “Indian travellers are evolving rapidly and our research indicates growing interest in unique experiences that include outdoor-adventure and leisure travel and this movement of new visa process gives us the opportunity to create a vibrant product which will make it even easier for Indian travellers to experience New Zealand. We are bullish on the larger trend towards experiential holidays. New Zealand as a destination has been constantly witnessing an increase in the number of Indians choosing it as their favoured destination.”
In the year ending February 2018, 3.77 million international visitors arrived in New Zealand: an increase of 6.5 per cent on the previous year. International tourism is New Zealand’s largest earner of foreign exchange and India has always been a crucial market for the country.