What is the Australian Tourism Accreditation Program?
The Australian Tourism Accreditation Program (ATAP) is a national online business development program that is based on Quality Assurance principles. The program has been developed by aligning the six existing state and territory based tourism accreditation programs and gives tourism operators across Australia the ability to apply for ‘Australian Tourism Accreditation’ online.
What is Accreditation?
Accreditation is a vital tourism industry asset, designed to establish and continually improve quality industry standards for conducting a tourism business. This is achieved by developing professional management systems that will lead to reliability, consistency and predictability in the operation of the business, resulting in improved customer service and satisfaction.
Accreditation encourages businesses to:
Plan how their business will function,
Check that customer expectations are being met.
The program meets the Australian Tourism Accreditation Standard and addresses the following:
Adherence to industry standards and codes of practice,
Compliance with business and industry regulations,
Development and implementation of business and marketing plans,
Implementation of policies and procedures relating to human resources, customer service, risk management and the environment.
Accreditation provides consumers and the industry with an assurance that you are committed to professionalism both in your business operations and delivery of service.
The Accreditation Advantage!
When you become an Accredited Tourism Business you will be providing yourself with an enormous business asset and aligning your product with a highly recognisable national brand. Advantages include:
An improved reputation in the tourism market place,
Increased chance as an accredited business to win at the Victorian Tourism Awards,
Greater customer confidence and satisfaction, which leads to repeat business,
Improved employee morale and more effective management,
A competitive advantage over non-accredited operators,
Improved profitability through the implementation of better operating systems,
Discounts with many Tourism Victoria marketing initiatives and other industry publications,
Discounted listing on Tourism Victoria’s consumer website visitvictoria.com, including a priority search return for accredited operators,
Ability to display the Accreditation ‘tick’ logo at your point of business and on all promotional and advertising material.
Continuous Improvement...
Once you have met the standards of the Australian Tourism Accreditation Program you will have ongoing access to the program’s business support material which is consistently updated. You will also be able to continually improve your business practices and management by completing additional accreditation modules that are relevant to the tourism industry sector in which you operate.
In 2010 you will also see the implementation of online business development workshops. You can take part in group workshops where you will be provided with case studies, advice, support and assistance covering a range of business activities. No additional costs or travelling is involved, and if you miss out on participating on the day you can contact ATAP Victoria for a recorded copy.
