ATAP Launch

Embargoed Friday 31 October 2008

Tick for Australian tourism industry as accreditation goes national

Australia's tourism industry today received a tick of approval with the launch of a voluntary national accreditation program.

The long-awaited national program is designed to ensure domestic and international tourists direct their buying habits more than ever to those operators who have passed the tick test.

"With consumer expectations about service and standards at an all-time high, this accreditation program comes at the right time for the tourism industry in Australia," according to Ian Nicolson, Chair of the Australian Tourism Accreditation Program.

"It enables accredited businesses to differentiate themselves as quality operators," he said."
"It allows tourists, who are increasingly using the Internet to make holiday decisions, to look for the tick and trust in it."

Martin Ferguson, Federal Minister for Tourism has welcomed the initiative as a crucial component of the National Tourism Accreditation Framework.

Tourism in Australia is big business with inbound tourism expenditure in 2006-7 generating $9.9 billion to the Australian economy while international visitors consumed $22.4 billion worth of goods and services. Most tourism operations are small businesses, directly employing around 482,000 people.

"In an increasingly global competitive market, the program has a vital contribution to play in lifting the standard of the Australian-tourism experience," said Mr Nicolson.

The tourism accreditation program was initiated in 1996 in Western Australia. Since then all States and Territories have begun their own programs, with the exception of New South Wales and Queensland.

The decision to create a national online program, designed to ease the process of a tourism business becoming accredited, was taken last year after a two-year pilot in Victoria.

The participating State and Territory Governments have provided strong financial and in-kind support into the program which brings Australia to world's best practice.

Western Australia and Northern Territory have committed to making accreditation mandatory by 2010; South Australia is considering mandating it while the other participating governments have put in place incentives for accredited businesses.

Today there are over 3,000 operators nationally who are accredited and entitled to use the Tourism Accredited Business symbol of a yellow tick in a star and green circle.

That number is set to increase significantly as the number of operators take advantage of the easier but more rigorous system. "Before the online program launch, tourism businesses had to fill out paper-based forms that relied on accreditation bodies to take it on faith that required documents had been created," Mr Nicolson said.

"Now the necessary documents are uploaded to the system, increasing efficiency, speed and reliability."

The program has been welcomed by the industry throughout Australia. Many operators, such as Acacia Car Rentals from Adelaide are reporting growth in business since becoming accredited, while others like WA's Peppermint Park Eco Village say the tick is giving them credibility in the market - something that advertising could never buy.

The web-based accreditation program been developed by the University of Ballarat's Centre for eCommerce and Communications.

The program is for all tourism businesses throughout Australia, regardless of their size and includes business operating systems, licences and permits, insurance details, marketing plans, economic and financial systems, codes of practice and ethics.

The program was launched in Melbourne at accredited Eureka Skydeck 88.

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