Tourism New Zealand creates learning with an impact: Refreshing the 100% Pure New Zealand Specialist Programme

Tourism New Zealand promotes Aotearoa New Zealand as a visitor destination to key markets worldwide. Its 100% Pure New Zealand Specialist Programme (NZSP) certifies international and local travel sellers, giving them the confidence to design personalised New Zealand itineraries for their clients.

The programme runs on Totara and serves a global, multilingual audience of independent travel professionals across five language editions.

The Challenge

The certification programme runs on TNZ’s Tōtara learning management system. Before 2024, TNZ couldn’t update legacy course content without vendor support, and learners could only complete courses in one sitting. Recognising the need to modernise and create efficiencies, the Trade Content and Digital Platforms teams at TNZ led a learning refresh project.

To maintain a high standard of learning, TNZ needed to ensure its programme was easy to follow, had a good user experience, and the course content was modern and up to date. TNZ completed market research to ensure that revisions made to the learning material reflected the needs of its learners.

After working with Totara Partner Catalyst on previous projects, TNZ re-engaged the team in 2024 to:

• develop a modern dashboard and course pages that could work on any device
• create quiz pages that enable learners to pre-test and skip what they already know
• upskill the TNZ team to create course content themselves without needing vendor support, so TNZ could build quality bite-sized modules that learners could complete quickly
• update the learning platform so TNZ could roll out its strategy to introduce a recertification pathway

The Solution

TNZ and Catalyst agreed to an Agile approach for the project, creating iterative changes that learners could test and give feedback on throughout the process. The collaboration began by building TNZ’s in-house capabilities, building independence and confidence in the team to create and update content moving forward.

Catalyst’s Learning Solutions Consultant ran two hands-on training sessions on how to use H5P, the built-in content authoring tool in Tōtara. This included creating a hub where staff could refer back to the training content when needed, while providing the means for future staff to be trained in-house. The training ensured TNZ could:

• make the most out of the built-in tools in Tōtara
• implement microlearning best practices
• include interactive course content like quizzes
• introduce pre-testing options before courses
• create course content that could be accessed on any device and completed at any time

TNZ and Catalyst prototyped the new seller dashboard and course format, testing with real travel sellers. Their feedback helped shape the course structure, and reinforced TNZ’s research-backed plan to simplify the tiers to a ‘Graduate Specialist’ and an ‘Advanced Specialist’ certification.

Catalyst implemented TNZ’s design, configured the dashboards in five languages, and created a new progression structure in Tōtara. Learners must complete eight foundational courses to become a ‘Graduate Specialist.’ On completion, advanced-level courses are unlocked, enabling learners to work towards becoming an ‘Advanced Specialist.’

After a soft launch in India, TNZ has continuously improved the learning journey between systems so learners receive consistent, timely information. Catalyst migrated learners from the old tier structure to the new one. Tōtara was integrated with TNZ’s CRM, automating critical emails such as certification and expiry, as well as course summaries to reinforce learning. The dashboard in Tōtara also displays the current user status.

As a result of the upgrades, the team now has:

• Self-service course creation: branded, reusable templates mean anyone on the team can build new courses.
• Microlearning best practices: short, focused modules boost engagement and knowledge retention.
• Pre-testing: experienced learners demonstrate knowledge in minutes. Trusting its learners means they can skip courses and certify quicker.
• Interactive learning: quizzes in each course enable sellers to test knowledge as they learn.
• Mobile access: learners have the flexibility to study whenever and wherever suits them, on any device.
• Modern interface: UX-designed interface reflects Tourism New Zealand’s brand and is simple to navigate.

The Results

The response from travel sellers about the new recertification pathways and the changes has been positive. Learners have shared that “These courses are amazing and I learned a lot” and “The new courses were bite-sized and easy to complete and covered a vast amount of information with brevity.”

Key outcomes

• Course completion rates increased by 87.8%, with more learners finishing what they started.
• Learners save on average 17 minutes per course, and with the restructured tiers, an average saving of 2 hours 16 minutes to become a certified Specialist.
• The TNZ team published 17 new courses in five language editions, totalling 85 new courses in less than a year.
• 82% of users revisit the programme after their initial log in, showing strong evidence of an engaged user base.
• The average time saved on course amendments is 20 hours per update.
• Advanced Specialist achievement rose by 107.7% with more sellers earning the top certification.
• Course creation costs have decreased by 65.5% since TNZ has upskilled its team.
• Courses are available in five languages, serving sellers worldwide.