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23
February 2009
Dear ,
TAANZ Member:
Trading as:
[You are the Primary Contact for this member - please
distribute this email to other staff at your location.]
TAANZ
opposes airport security charges ...
A recent story in the Dominion Post outed a secret report to
government that recommended increasing security at our domestic airports.
TAANZ has joined with the Inbound Tour Operators Council of NZ (ITOC) in
condemning such a move as an over reaction which would add more
inconvenience and cost to travel. Read our media release.
TAANZ
comments on Trans Tasman border changes ...
Over the weekend the media got excited about Trans Tasman
flights becoming more 'domesticated' after initial comments in the Australian newspaper.
Today's Dominion Post gives a New Zealand perspective and TAANZ
Chief Executive Paul Yeo spoke on TV Ones' Breakfast Show this morning.
Market
outlook survey ...
Everyone's crystal ball is somewhat cloudy at the moment
concerning what might happen in the travel and tourism industry.
The Ministry of Tourism and the Tourism Industry Association, with the
support of Tourism NZ and associations like ITOC and TAANZ, have developed
a new online survey tool called the Tourism Industry Monitor. It will
provide measures of confidence and performance for the tourism industry and
will help the industry navigate through this difficult economic period.
While specifically developed for monitoring inbound tourism flows TAANZ is
also keen to monitor outbound flows and has arranged for outbound travel
agents to participate in the survey.
In the next few days all TAANZ members will receive an invitation to
participate in this survey so please watch for more information.
Latest figures released on Friday for the 4 weeks ended 8 February
show overseas departures down 5.0% over the same period last year. Ups:
Australia +5%, Cook Islands +10%, Samoa +32%, India +17%. Downs: Fiji -43%,
UK -7%, US -16%, China -17%, Thailand -18%, Canada -11%.
Feedback
required on structure of the National Certificate in Travel (Level 3)
qualification ...
 The National Certificate in Travel
(Level 3) [Ref: 0112] was reviewed in 2001 and had revisions in 2002, 2003
and 2005. Feedback on the latest version of the qualification
(version 7) advised it was dated, manual processes have been replaced by
automated processes, technology has changed and the qualification really
only caters for those working in retail travel.
Before the reviewed National Certificate in Travel (Level 3) qualification
is submitted to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) for approval,
it was felt the wider travel industry should be consulted in this final
stage of the review process.
Unit standards have been developed to reflect current industry practice,
and to cater for retail travel (leisure and corporate) and wholesale travel
(inbound and outbound). The needs of retail travel and wholesale
travel are quite different; please bear this in mind when you are looking
at the two different options.
If you would like to discuss either of these options in further detail
please contact the ATTTO Qualifications Developer, Lara Franklin on (04)
815-9848, otherwise please send your feedback through via email to lara.franklin@attto.org.nz
The deadline to respond is 5.00pm Tuesday 24 February 2009. This is to ensure the option preferred by
industry can be submitted to NZQA as soon as possible.
Option 1 [click to view]
National Certificate in Travel (Level 3)
This is the structure that has been proposed for quite some time, it has a
Compulsory section and three Elective sections. There is some
concern, however with Elective 1.
Elective 1 requires the candidate to complete a minimum of 20 credits from
a selection of listed unit standards (there are 18 unit standards in total
to choose from).
For those working in, or undertaking pre-employment training, in retail
travel there are plenty of unit standards to choose from. If however
unit standard 25499 (10 credits) is selected then unit standards 25506 (5
credits) and 25507 (5 credits) must be completed, as they are
prerequisites. This will mean the candidate can gain 20 credits for
Elective 1 by doing three unit standards only. There are other unit
standards applicable to retail travel that will not be completed and
perhaps should be.
The credit value for Elective 1 cannot be increased as this will cause
problems for wholesale travel whereby they would be required to complete
unit standards which are unrelated to wholesale travel.
Option 2 [click to view]
National Certificate in Travel (Level 3) with strands in Retail Travel, and
Wholesale Travel
This structure offers a stranded qualification. When the review first
started in 2006, a stranded qualification was the original plan. In
June 2007 a meeting was held with several industry people where the ‘idea’
of a stranded qualification was presented. At this time industry said
they were unsure whether a stranded qualification would be suitable without
seeing a defined structure.
Now that the unit standards have been developed and again looking at the
needs of retail travel versus wholesale travel, it is felt that a stranded
qualification should be once again presented as an option. A stranded
qualification will recognise the distinct skill sets for retail travel and
wholesale travel.
How would the stranded qualification work?
The stranded qualification is essentially two qualifications. The Core
Compulsory and Core Elective sections have to be completed by all
candidates as these are the common areas of skills and knowledge shared by
both retail travel and wholesale travel. The strands recognise the
skills and knowledge specific to either retail travel or wholesale travel.
It would also allow a career path for people moving from one industry
sector speciality to another.
For example:
Retail Travel – a candidate would complete the Core Compulsory and Core
Elective sections, and then they would complete the Retail Travel strand
and gain a National Certificate in Travel (Level 3), Retail Travel
qualification.
Wholesale Travel – a candidate would complete the Core Compulsory and Core
Elective sections, and then they would complete the Wholesale Travel strand
and gain a National Certificate in Travel (Level 3), Wholesale Travel
qualification.
This means that over a period of time a candidate has the opportunity to
gain two different qualifications.
A new way
of mapping travel careers ...
As part of ATTTO's commitment to supporting and sustaining
growth in the New Zealand travel, tourism and hospitality workforce, a new
career web portal - NZSkillsConnect - is on its way.
When completed, this project will provide a mechanism to show people where
to start on a career in these industries. It highlights a map of the
current jobs available, the qualifications required, and indicates other
sectors a job can take them to. It also provides basic information about
what it may be possible to earn now and in the future.
Visit the ATTTO website for more information.
More LAG's
being confiscated ...
 More
LAGs (Liquids, Aerosols and Gels) are being confiscated at Auckland
Airport - a trend that is concerning officials who have asked travel
agents to remind passengers of the regulations.
When the rules first came in during April 2007 there was a reasonably high
level of confiscations that decreased markedly as publicity alerted
travellers. However some complacency appears to have set in with an
increase being noticed in December 2008. Each day 0.38 tonnes of LAG's are
disposed of at Auckland Airport!
For more information visit the Flysmart website and remember to remind your customers
as part of your ticket and itinerary checking procedures.
New Travel
Agency Commissioner appointed ...
IATA has appointed a new Travel Agency Commissioner for Area
3 - Mr Jo Foged who is based in New
Zealand. Jo worked previously for Air New Zealand and has been in the industry
for 44 years. TAANZ worked with him closely when he was Chairman of the NZ
IATA Executive Council.
The Office of Travel Agency Commissioner was set up in the early 1980’s to
provide the industry with a neutral official that would act to resolve
disputes arising under the Passenger Agency Programme. Such disputes can
arise between Accredited Agents and Airlines as well as the IATA
Administration.
In all matters the Travel Agency Commissioner works as an impartial arbiter
without any day-to-day involvement or control by any Agent, Agency
Association, group of Associations, Airline or IATA.
The authority for the Office of Travel Agency Commissioner is contained in
Resolution 820d and the terms of reference appear in Resolution 820e. Both
resolutions are reproduced in the Travel Agent’s Handbook.
Symposium
on sustainable travel ...
Registrations are now open
for the Royal Aeronautical Society Symposium for 2009, Sustainable
Travel & Tourism in an Uncertain World, in Wellington on 13
March. The event will focus on:
- Drivers of
visitor choices, including visitors' responses to environmental as
well as economic concerns
- The
challenges for the tourism and travel industry in planning for
uncertain demand
- Technological
responses
- Security -
both personal and fuel supply
The topics aim to be of
interest to all participants in the tourism and travel industry.
Best wishes from Paul, Charlie and Madeleine - your TAANZ
Team
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