Christchurch Art Gallery gains tourism's official quality endorsement

18 November 2008

Christchurch Art Gallery has been recognised as one of New Zealand’s leading tourism businesses and is now licensed to carry the Qualmark - New Zealand tourism’s official mark of quality.

The Gallery earned this accolade as part of the Qualmark quality endorsement programme, which offers quality assurance to a full range of tourism businesses, from adventure activities and cultural experiences, to limousine hire and gift shops.

The endorsement programme is designed to identify professional and trustworthy operators and enable international and domestic visitors to book and buy tourism products and services with confidence.

To gain its Qualmark endorsement, Christchurch Art Gallery underwent an onsite assessment, using criteria developed with the tourism industry and based on research into the requirements of travellers.

Gallery Director Jenny Harper says the new Qualmark endorsement is important for local and international visitors alike. 

’It’s a pretty rigorous process that puts real focus on the service and systems we have in place. The endorsement reassures potential visitors that we’re good operators and that we’re going to look after them.  We think it’s important that visitors have these official and independent benchmarks to refer to when they’re making decisions about how to spend their time and money.’

The Qualmark endorsement system sits alongside Qualmark’s star grading system for accommodation. Qualmark is a joint venture of Tourism New Zealand and New Zealand Automobile Association and is backed by the New Zealand Tourism Industry association and other leading industry organisations. It is the means by which the industry directs travelers to quality assured products and services.

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