A message from the organisers

These inaugural Air New Zealand Cook Islands Tourism Awards 2009 signify a significant step in the development of the Cook Islands Tourism Industry. The mission statement and intent taken from the Awards Planning Document was acheived on 24 July 2009 with a highly successful gala event announcing award recipients at a formal Island venue.

Mission

The Cook Islands Tourism Industry Council (CITIC) is host the Inaugural Cook Islands Tourism Awards by 31 JULY 09 in order to provide a cohesive and robust event to underpin the encouragement and recognition of quality products in the Cook Islands Tourism market.

Intent

Using the New Zealand Tourism Industry Awards as a model CITIC will establish a confidential and structured assessment procedure to assess entrants in these awards. The assessment will be completed by a consultant who will report his or her findings to a judging panel made up of tourism industry seniors from outside of the Cook Islands operational environment. The judging panel will reserve their decision for the decisive moment, being the awards presentation dinner where category and overall winners will be announced. The end state of this activity will be a successful function completed, awards presented and a framework approved for future awards functions.

In the development of these awards process two tenets have been held equal. Product recognition and business development.

This has been acheived by having all entrants professionally and independently assessed and the fact that all entrants receive a formal evaluation report at the compeletion of the awards process in order to identify strengths and area for improvement.

Thank you for taking the time to look further into the Air New Zealand Cook Islands Tourism Awards 2009.

Stephen Lyon. Awards Sub Committee Chair