Room for improvement? Not much!
There might always be room for improvement in all fields of human endeavour, but when it comes to the Far North’s i-Sites there isn’t much. For four months last year there was no room at all.
The Far North District Council’s three i-Site visitor information centres, in Kaitaia, Paihia and O¯ pononi, which deal with more than 355,000 customers every year, are routinely surveyed for customer satisfaction (courtesy, professionalism, understanding of the issue raised, clarity of the response and overall helpfulness). And last year’s monthly satisfaction index scores averaged 98.8 out of 100.
Scores of 100 were recorded in four separate months.
“This is a phenomenal result,” visitor information services manager Julia Crane said, adding that she attributed them to the knowledge, skills and helpful attitude of her staff.
“All i-Site staff have Level 4 Travel and Tourism Diplomas, some are multilingual, and they are familiar with the accommodation and activities they advise visitors on,” she said.
They also processed council rates payments, parking infringements and dog registrations.
“Staff often go the extra mile,” Ms Crane added.
“They have helped people jump-start cars, driven people to Kerikeri when they have missed a bus, and worked hard to find a family of 10 accommodation over the busy Christmas period.
“Their biggest challenge is competing with online booking services, which customers can access on mobile phones and tablets. It is very easy to shop around on prices, but not all tourism operators are online, and you don’t get the local knowledge or personal service an i-Site can offer.”
The Bay of Islands i-Site in Paihia was the busiest last year with 300,785 customers, and sold $1 million more in products and services than any Auckland or Whangarei i-Site did over the 2018/2019 financial year.