One of the people responsible for driving up the yield and quality of the Chinese visitor market has been recognised for her efforts.

ATTTO's 2011 Tourism Training Ambassador Award was awarded to Cici Huang, Tourism New Zealand's China Market Development Coordinator, at the Inbound Tour Operators Council Annual Conference in Tauranga last night.

Ms Huang is part of the team responsible for ensuring New Zealand delivers high-quality tour experiences to Chinese visitors travelling to New Zealand on Approved Destination Status (ADS) Visas. As part of her role, she has assisted more than 150 tour guides to complete training with ATTTO and gain ADS tour guide accreditation.

ATTTO Chief Executive Elizabeth Valentine says Ms Huang was nominated because of her outstanding commitment to helping Chinese tour guides up-skill and gain qualifications.

"The work that the ADS team does behind the scenes has been an important part of the development of the Chinese market over the last few years," says Ms Valentine.

"If we are to continue to improve the yield and length of stay of Chinese visitors, we need to ensure they receive top-notch service from well-trained and qualified guides. Cici has been a fantastic ambassador who has motivated and mentored guides to complete training, represented the needs of trainees and helped ATTTO overcome the cultural and language barriers that come with working across cultures."

Paul Yeo, Tourism New Zealand General Manager Tourism Operations, oversees the ADS China Monitoring Unit.

"This award is great recognition for Cici and the small team she's part of, who work incredibly hard to ensure Chinese visitors receive the experience in New Zealand that they are promised. The China market continues to face quality issues, but up-skilling guides with ATTTO training has helped ensure we set a standard for the quality of tour guiding these visitors receive," says Mr Yeo.

New Zealand's ADS Code of Conduct specifies that ADS approved tour operators can only contract or employ ADS Accredited tour guides. In order to gain accreditation, guides must meet a number of criteria including holding an ATTTO tour guiding qualification or award (unless they meet exemption criteria).

ATTTO has been working with Tourism New Zealand to train ADS tour guides since the revised ADS Code of Conduct took effect in 2007. During that time, 146 New Zealand-based guides and 15 Chinese-based guides have completed training. An additional 35 guides are part-way through training.

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For more information about the ADS Code of Conduct and China Monitoring Unit, see Tourism New Zealand's website: http://www.tourismnewzealand.com/developing-nz-tourism/developing-the-tourism-

industry/ads-china-monitoring-unit/the-ads-code-of-conduct/