This was expressed on Wednesday’s (November 21) edition of ‘Working for You’ when tourism officials engaged the listening audience in a discussion on the programmes and policies that have led to unprecedented cruise passenger arrivals and their spin-off effects on the economy.
“Right now, we are concentrating on customer service, but we also offer other areas. For example: understanding tourism and caring for your primate,” Saju Ng’alla, Public Relations Manager of SKTA, noting various aspects of training including those focused on primate vendors whose pet Green Vervet Monkeys entertain tourists. “So we do offer those types of training, as well as conflict identification, management resolution and time management. The training workshops are done during the summer for persons such as waitresses, receptionists and taxi operators, to name a few.”
Allister Williams, Executive Director of Events within the Ministry of Tourism said that the industry is very competitive, hence the reason it is important to carry out training workshops and stay ahead of the game.
“Training is continuous in order for us to be able to survive, and of course move to the next level. And so we have to continue equipping persons with the skills needed to further enhance the tourism product.”
This year, aloe rub vendors; destination management companies; servers; bartenders; hair braiders; primate petting vendors, and craft vendors have all been trained. Mr. Ng’alla noted that these persons will continue to get training monthly, and that the SKTA along with the Ministry of Tourism will continue to raise the standard of service offered to guests.
In addition to the customer service training workshops for 2018, 39 new persons were trained to be taxi operators and 194 taxi operators completed a refreshers course.
