Tourism group earns WorldHost status

ARGYLL and the Isles Tourism Co- operative (AITC) has been awarded WorldHost accreditation.

The hallmark of excellent customer service, WorldHost has been used to train more than one million people worldwide and was the programme used for the tens of thousands of volunteers and staff at the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

WorldHost was launched in Scotland in 2014 and since then has trained more than 10,000 staff across the country. To achieve WorldHost accreditation, AITC had to demonstrate that a minimum of 50 per cent of its customer-facing staff attend and pass WorldHost workshops.

AITC’s development agent team showed its commitment to providing excellent customer service by attending a WorldHost training day in Portavadie. This workshop includes delegates learning how important it is to the local economy and why it is important for every individual to play their part in growing tourism.

Across Argyll and the Isles, businesses are putting their staff through the programme and achieving WorldHost recognition. To date AITC, which works with Business Gateway to deliver the training, has enabled the free training of 254 delegates across the region.

AITC chairman Gavin Dick explained: ‘You only have one chance to make a good first impression and we want tourism businesses across Argyll and the Isles to make the best one possible. WorldHost training gives your staff the confidence and tools to deal with providing great customer service together with what to do in a difficult situation.

‘Our aim is to make Argyll and the Isles a WorldHost regional destination. This is an ambitious target as we need 25 per cent of tourism businesses in each of our towns to go through the training. However, we believe it is achievable and will create a welcome Argyll and the Isles can be proud of.’