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.
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.
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 and Indian tourist arrivals also have a major share in these numbers.