Quality and Excellence
Striving for business excellence involves understanding the needs of your customers and making continual improvements to your business, in order to consistently provide a quality experience and achieve a competitive advantage.
Industry excellence can be obtained through a number of ways:
Accreditation
Quality Tourism Accreditation which is the national tourism accreditation program for all business types and sizes.
The Caravan Industry Association of Australia’s National Accreditation Program.
Ecotourism Australia certifies businesses who demonstrate best practice in nature tourism, ecotourism, climate action and respecting our culture (ROC).
Achieving and maintaining positive, high scoring online reviews.
Winning an award through state and/or national industry awards.
Businesses should also consider high quality options for the accessible tourism market. This sector represents 20% of Australia’s population and is an increasingly developing market. View more on accessible tourism here.
The benchmarks below formulate the quality and excellence pillar, in order from developing to leading levels.
ReviewPro is an online platform that collates reviews and data from over 175 online travel agencies and review sites in 45 languages.
The data collected is generated into reports such as:
Global Review Index (GRI): an average score is calculated from online star ratings, taking in account recent reviews and volume.
Reviews: numerical breakdown of collated reviews into positive, neutral and negative.
Semantic Analysis: breaks down key phrases within written reviews and categorises them as positive or negative.
Management Response: indicates the percentage of reviews that have been responded to.
A high GRI score can boost your business ranking on search engines, and maintains your business accountability to sustaining a high standard of online reputation.
- a GRI score between 0-25% usually indicates your business receives 1-2 stars
- a GRI score between 25-50% usually indicates your business receives 2-3 stars
- a GRI score between 50-75% usually indicates your business receives 3-4 stars
- a GRI score between 75-100% usually indicates your business receives 4-5 stars.
Accessing ReviewPro is free if you are a NT Quality Tourism Accredited Business (see benchmark below). If you are not there is a fee for membership.
For further assistance with ReviewPro, contact a tourism development representative at your RTO.
The Quality Tourism Accredited Business (QTAB) program forms part of the Quality Tourism Framework (QTF). There are four levels of accreditation that make up the QTF, with the QTAB program at the core.
The tourism accreditation process improves the quality of tourism businesses and industry standards. It assures visitors and the tourism industry that you are a professional tourism business who is committed to delivering quality through your business practices, procedures and standards.
In the process of becoming accredited, tourism businesses will undergo a range of business checks such as licenses, customer service standards, risk management procedures and general maintenance.
Tourism operators who display the QTAB logo are endorsed by the tourism industry. These businesses have met specific criteria and are committed to exceeding customer expectations by providing outstanding customer service and have the highest standards of business practice.
The benefits of becoming an accredited tourism operator are:
- improved profitability through efficient procedures and systems
- increased employee morale and effective management
- marketing opportunities
- stronger reputation in the market.
The QTF also offers niche modules to businesses to help them achieve excellence in specific areas such as:
- environmental sustainability management
- camping and adventure
- international ready
- marine tourism
- COVID-19 clean practicing business
- COVID vaxx practicing business.
Find out more on accreditations offered on the Quality Tourism Framework.
To manage your current QTAB accreditation or enquire about becoming accredited contact Tourism Top End on [email protected]
The digital era has made it easy for individuals to instantly share thoughts and reviews of their experiences online. Tracking your online reviews is important to see where your business is excelling and can identify areas for improvement. One of the best ways to maintain a positive online reputation is to be proactive about your digital customer service and respond to reviews and other online feedback. Your business should effectively respond to all online reviews where possible with a minimum benchmark of 40% response rate.
Responding to reviews, both positive and negative, can benefit the business’ online reputation in many ways, including:
- increasing your search engine rankings, as search engines prefer a consistent flow of new content
- opportunity to engage with your customers post service
- ability to emphasis and showcase your product offerings to potential customers
- opportunity to address unhappy customers (negative reviews) in a positive way
For further information on responding to online reviews contact Tourism NT on [email protected]
Aboriginal cultural capability is beneficial for everyone and supports you becoming more effective in working and living in our diverse environment.
Face-to-face and online learning resources can be found using the Industry Capability Network NT search tool. These include, but are not limited to:
- Larrakia Nation in Darwin
- ARDS Aboriginal Corporation in Darwin and East Arnhem Land
- Cultural awareness self-assessment (online)
- Office of Aboriginal Affairs training modules - Aboriginal land explained, Native title explained and Sacred sites explained (online)
Additional resources:
- Remote Engagement and Coordination Toolkit
- Aboriginal Interpreter Service
- Tourism Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tourism Guide
- Reconciliation Australia
- Map of Indigenous Australia
- The Uluru Statement
- The Aboriginal Flag
For further information contact Tourism NT on [email protected]
The Brolga Northern Territory Tourism Awards (Brolga Awards) are the official tourism awards for the NT. The Brolga Awards encourage and recognise tourism businesses that strive for excellence in every area of their operation.
Winning a Brolga Award is the industry’s highest accolade and recipients represent the best product and services in the NT. Business category winners go on to represent the NT at the Australian Tourism Awards – the tourism industry’s peak awards.
By entering the Brolga Awards you can use the judges’ feedback to identify your business strengths and any areas for improvement.
For further information contact Tourism NT on [email protected]
Tracking your online reviews helps to see where your business is excelling and where you can improve. One of the best ways to maintain a positive online reputation is to be proactive about your digital customer service and respond to reviews and other online feedback.
Top tips for review management:
- use review responses to advocate for your business, other product or the region
- save time by using response templates, ensure you personalise them
- provide staff with clear guidelines on review management
- encourage guest reviews to help increase your search engine ranking
- address all negative reviews and concentrate on the most influential sites (Google, Tripadvisor, Booking.com etc.)
For further information on managing your online reputation contact Tourism NT on [email protected]
Maintain a GRI of over 80% over a period of 12 months. This demonstrates that your business delivers a high-quality service and customer satisfaction.
Manage your GRI with ReviewPro.
For information on maintaining a high GRI score contact Tourism NT on [email protected]
If you are a Brolga Award business category winner you may then represent the Northern Territory at the Australian Tourism Awards (ATA).
Representing the NT at the ATA is highly regarded in the Australian tourism industry and can enhance customer confidence in your product.
The Australian Tourism Awards are managed by Quality Tourism Australia.
For further information about the ATA contact Tourism NT on [email protected]