The Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) on Wednesday morning hosted the first of several workshops aimed at increasing and elevating the level of service and standards provided by the hospitality workers in Guyana.
Over 40 persons participated in the training programme
As Tourism Month kicked off under the theme “Tourism for all – Partnership for Tourism Development”, the GTA hosted the training programme as part of the celebration.
The GTA is mandated to provide training for the sector and as of October 2016, training was provided for over 650 persons in various areas of specialty.
The training focused on frontline staff, as this is seen as a critical aspect of operations for the tourism business.
Alluding to the importance of this training, Director of the GTA, Indranauth Haralsingh explained, “All of you work on the front lines, and the front desk play a very important role. It’s the first impression, the face basically of an organisation”.
He reminded participants that they are the faces of the organisation in which they work. “One of the first things that people will see when they enter your business place is you and so you should have a smiling face, so let us not forget to smile because that is one of the key things that is required of you behind the desk, it conveys so much,” he said.
The Director emphasised that the GTA is committed to service excellence and part of the training on Wednesday morning was to assist trainees in delivering that.
Haralsingh said, “Today’s [Wednesday’s] training programme is to reinforce the knowledge and skills that you already have, at the end of this training today, you will each receive a certificate so that certificate will be good on paper, but you must deliver. What counts is what you do behind the front desk.” As the workshop continues, much more training will be provided to persons in an effort to boost tourism in Guyana.
