Major changes for QualmarkQualmark has announced a new direction for 2011 and beyond. Seven major areas of change to its business plan are involved, including new processes for developing assessment criteria, new assessment options, a new pricing structure and the independent establishment of Qualmark Enviro Awards. Qualmark gm Paula McCallum says the changes reinforce that a Qualmark licence is earned by first applying, and then being assessed to establish if an operator is reaching industry standards and deserves to be a licence holder. She said there was a perception that a Qualmark licence is gained by paying a licence fee, which is completely wrong. “Our sole focus as an organisation is and must be quality assurance in New Zealand's tourism industry,” says Ms McCallum. “Qualmark licence holders who have earned the right to carry the Qualmark logo are extremely valuable to the industry. We owe it to them to uphold standards and these new changes mean we can get on with the business of doing just that.” The major changes include new assessment criteria, reviewed annually across all sectors, with all operators given the opportunity to contribute and review. This ensures Qualmark will hear the wider industry's feedback and not just from existing licence holders. Qualmark quality assurance assessors will now have a menu of assessment options available to them to complete the onsite assessments. operators will now be required to complete all pre-assessment material, which includes presenting evidence of minimum requirements, and return to assessors within 30 days to avoid having their licence terminated. licence holders will now have more contact with assessors than previously, and all licence holders will have at least one visit from their assessor each year. The Quality Mark is also being reviewed to ensure it differentiates between sectors and is easily identifiable to all visitors. Changes will start to take effect from 01 APR 11.
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