The Ctrip Institute of Customized Travel Business and Tourism New Zealand are joining hands to develop a training programme to help tour experts offer more relevant products and services in the destination amid a growing wave for bespoke travel among Chinese holidaymakers.
Both parties will also carry out joint data sharing, user analysis and marketing to better cater to Chinese customised travel needs.
Titled “New Zealand Travel Expert + Customized Travel”, the programme will include specific sections dedicated to families and newlyweds, key target groups in the programme.
The NTO and Ctrip will award graduates with the New Zealand Customized Travel Training Certification, which they say is a “jointly recognised accreditation within the customised travel profession”.
Divided into gold, silver and bronze, the certificate permits the graduate to service travellers as their personal customised travel expert.
Tourism New Zealand will also sponsor a trip to New Zealand for the top three customised travel graduates, enabling them to better understand the destination and the type of services needed to cater to the demands of their customers.
The partnership, Ctrip Institute of Customized Travel Business’s first with a tourism bureau, was in response to the increasing demand for more personalised holidays to New Zealand.
According to Ctrip’s Customised Travel platform, demand for more personalised and in-depth experiences of New Zealand has increased by 150 per cent year-on-year over the last year. These travellers not only stay in New Zealand much longer than those who travel to New Zealand as part of a tour group, but also travel to more regions and participate in more in-depth travel activities, Ctrip said in a statement.
