thl Awarded First "China Ready Accreditation" for Self Drive and Waitomo Products
Tourism Holdings Limited is the first New Zealand company to receive official “China Ready” accreditation – a global
accreditation system identifying products and services that Chinese consumers can trust.
The business gained accreditation across its campervan rental branches and all Waitomo business sites including Waitomo
Glowworm Caves and Black Water Rafting. The accreditation recognises the lengths the businesses have gone to to cater
for the growing Chinese market, now New Zealand’s second largest tourism market with more than 400,000 visitors each
year.
To achieve accreditation the business was assessed in many areas – the product itself, websites, brochures, signage and
social media channels to ensure a seamless Chinese customer journey is delivered. Service areas were also considered -
to ensure Mandarin speaking staff on hand to assist with customers. There also needed to be evidence of Chinese
preferred payment options and overall quality of services. Waitomo Glowworm Caves was the first tourism business in New
Zealand to accept both Alipay and WeChat Pay – launching both in 2016.
These efforts are recognition of the growing china customer base across the business, thl CEO Grant Webster says, "Our
business is entirely customer centric and we recognise the increasingly diverse needs of our customers. Given the number
of Chinese visiting New Zealand, ensuring our products meet their needs is essential. Our team have taken a
comprehensive and thorough approach here – evident in the accreditation”
As part of ensuring their businesses are as China ready as possible, THL has created a specifically focused Chinese
Sales and Marketing team – headed by Michelle Jin and Rebecca Dai. Say’s Rebecca Dai, THL’s China Marketing Manager, "We
have made great efforts across our business to ensure we can service the needs of tech savvy Chinese travellers. When
abroad, they’re looking for quality services they are familiar with at home – card & cashless payment using smartphones, scanning QR codes to get information and a friendly customer service person who
speaks their own language. We are confident we are now well set to deliver a fantastic customer experience to this
market after extensive work throughout the business”
It is expected that many other New Zealand businesses will follow suit in the lead up to the 2019 China-New Zealand Year
of Tourism.