WITH an eye to grow the number and value of business incentive groups and conferences from Thailand, Tourism New Zealand and Immigration New Zealand (INZ) today signed a new Tourism Industry Partnership in Bangkok to streamline the visa application process.
The partnership has selected three key travel agencies – Global Link International, Green Line Travel and Big World Holiday – which will offer their business events clients faster processing time and reduced paperwork. Processing will be reduced to three days and the requirement to provide evidence of funds and employment will be deemed to be met through a letter of support issued by the agency.
INZ area manager, Antony Harris, said: “For INZ this is about being able to work closer with trusted partners to facilitate high-value clients going to New Zealand. We are looking forward to working closer with (consultants) to improve customer service and take advantage of opportunities to grow the business events sector.”
Tourism New Zealand’s regional manager, Nick Mudge, added: “We have selected (consultants) based on their ability to bring high-value visitors to New Zealand. We’re seeing increasing interest from the business events sector out of Thailand and look forward to being able to grow this more rapidly as a result of this agreement.”
The country is focused on attracting more high-value conference and incentive visitors, and is set to open three new conferencing facilities by 2018 to meet demand.
For more information visit http://businessevents.newzealand.com.
