New Zealand Specialist Program Trains +1K Chinese Travel Agents

Since its launch in 2019, nearly 15,000 Chinese travel trade professionals had used Tourism New Zealand’s original WeChat-based training program. In 2025, it was time for a refresh, and Dragon Trail helped New Zealand to upgrade their Chinese travel trade marketing with the launch of the all-new 100% Pure New Zealand Specialist Program, providing fresh knowledge and resources to the travel trade to help them build and sell tourism products to New Zealand.

From Māori Culture to Minecraft

This easy-to-access training program for travel agents is available through the Training section of the Tourism New Zealand Trade Marketing Hub and hosted on Dragon Trail’s China Travel Academy, a WeChat-based e-learning platform. The program is divided into two parts, with a basic foundation course to start, followed by an advanced follow-on program.

The eight foundation courses provide travel agents with practical information and essential knowledge about traveling to New Zealand, including climate, getting around, year-round experiences, Māori culture, and introductions to different regions of the country. Once the travel agent has completed these courses, they receive a personalized Graduate Specialist certificate, as well as access to the New Zealand Specialist Program’s advanced courses.

The Advanced Specialist program offers travel agents more ideas and inspiration for designing travel products, with new courses added regularly on thematic topics such as food and wildlife. In April 2025, the latest course introduced must-visit New Zealand destinations as featured in the new Minecraft game, developed by Tourism New Zealand, Warner Bros., and Mojang Studios to celebrate the release of A Minecraft Movie, which was filmed in New Zealand.

Travel trade professionals can obtain Advanced Specialist certification from Tourism New Zealand after they complete four advanced courses and provide evidence that they’ve personally traveled to New Zealand. This certification is valid for two years, and can be renewed with the completion of two additional specialist courses.

Incentive Campaign

To promote the launch of the all-new New Zealand Specialist Program, we ran a two-week campaign from 6-21 March 2025, incentivizing travel agents and travel agencies to complete the specialist course and also promote the program within their professional networks, with giveaways and a public leaderboard. Prizes included New Zealand products ranging from kiwi fruits to cosmetics, as well as high-value electronics.

The two-week incentive period delivered impressive results, with more than 1,500 new registrations for the New Zealand Specialist Program. More than 1,000 Chinese travel agents completed the foundational program and became certified Graduate Specialists, and more than 600 travel agencies took part, promoting the course to their employees.

2025’s New Zealand Specialist Program marks a new stage in New Zealand’s engagement with the Chinese travel trade, building expertise and connections to benefit Chinese tourism to New Zealand for years to come.

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