Customer care good for tourism growth
“Frontline staff is the face of every institution”. This is the message that was preached to frontline staff, which includes receptionists, customer and guest relations officers and many others officials who welcome guest most of the Tourism establishments in the North West province.
Officials were taken through a two days workshop on customer service by the Provincial Department Tourism as a way of improving service excellence within the tourism industry in Bakgatla lodge near Moruleng village in the Moses Kotane local Municipality.
Golden Leopard resorts which owns several Tourism establishments sent their delegates to attend the workshop, which is aimed at inculcating service excellence among the frontline staff of hotels, lodges, guest houses and many other establishments within the industry.
In ensuring that service excellence becomes an everyday gesture, the provincial department is already in the process of implementing a service excellence national strategy which was recently launched nationally.
The strategy seeks to serve as a guideline to service excellence and it targets different sectors such as banks, government departments, health sectors, fuel garages, hospitality industry and many other entities where services excellence has been recommended.
Delegates and many others in the tourism sector agreed that service excellence is critical in building and developing their products to greater heights. Delegates further agreed that for the province to become a preferred tourism destination, service excellence will have to be the pillar of every business.
Ms Thoriso Morake is one of the 42 delegates who attended the workshop. The 26 year old Tourism graduate from Moruleng is passionate about her work as a receptionist at Bakgatlha Gate Resorts in the Pilanesburg area.
She said that her three years of experience as a receptionist has taught many things which includes good customer relations, She said that the workshop came in handy in sharpening her skills and further improvement in her acumen in dealing with customers daily.
“We are living in an ever changing world. To me Working in the Tourism industry has taught me more about customer relations. You get to meet happy and angry people on daily basis. I have even matured with time, and currently am even able to handle serious crisis situations,” said Ms Morake.
The workshop was in line with the North West Tourism MEC, Desbo Mohono’s call, that tourism product owners should give tourists a world class treatment, which will make them come back for more to experience the wonders provided by the entire province.
“We must also practice and offer excellent services to our guests, in that way we will be making sure that we contribute positively to the growth of tourism in the province,” said Mohono.
Enquiries:
Dineo Lolokwane
Tel: 018 388 2081
Cell: 072 542 8444
E-mail: dlolokwane@nwpg.gov.za
