Today the BTB launched the Frontline Service Excellence and Leadership which is a series of trainings to be held across the country. The training aims to increase the level of customer service provided to tourists across the tourism value chain. Participants included Civil Aviation, Customs, Immigration, Ministry of Health and Wellness, Belize Agricultural Health Authority (BAHA), as well as BTB hospitality staff. Presenter, Ms. Claudine Pohl of Lemoneight, a company based in Canada, kept the participants very engaged.

BTB PROVIDES CUSTOMER SERVICE TRAINING TO FRONTLINE WORKERS AT P.G.I.A. AND CRUISE PORTS

The Belize Tourism Board, (BTB) will host a Front Line Service Excellence and Leadership Training for frontline personnel stationed at the Philip Goldson International Airport and the Cruise Ports on November 1st and 2nd from 8:30 am to 12 noon at the Tapir Room of the Belize Biltmore Plaza Hotel.

The training aims to increase the level of customer service provided to tourists across the tourism value chain as a part of BTB's "Destination Ambassadors" Program. This Program falls under a new national expanded tourism training initiative to further strengthen the recovery of the tourism industry. After receiving the training, the Destination Ambassadors will be properly equipped to provide greater support to all visitors arriving in Belize.

Participants will consist of personnel from several agencies such as: Civil Aviation, Customs, Immigration, Ministry of Health and Wellness, Belize Agricultural Health Authority (BAHA), as well as BTB hospitality staff. These sessions will be facilitated by Ms. Claudine Pohl of Lemoneight, a company based in Canada.

The Tourism Police Unit will also be participating in the training in Belize City on November 1st from 1:30pm- 4:30 pm, San Pedro November 3rd from 8:30 am- 12:30pm and Cayo on November 5th from 10:00 am- 3:00pm.

For the rest of this week, the Belize Tourism Board will be hosting a Front Line Service Excellence and Leadership Training for all the Belizeans who are involved with the country's tourism sector.

These persons are are responsible for the first impressions which visitors get of Belize. So, they want to ensure that these stakeholders are performing as model ambassadors. Today, they started the training for all the government agencies who will meet visitors at the Philip Goldson International Airport and the Cruise Ports.

We stopped by the Biltmore Plaza Hotel to find out more about the discussion about effective communication and leadership skills within the tourism industry:

Abel Castaneda - Director, Capacity Dev. Quality Management, BTB
"It's actually an entire week of training that we're doing. It is a part of a larger program that we're putting together at the BTB. What we're trying to do is provide training across the tourism value chain. A lot of the time, we do training for specific areas, just like tour guides and all of that. What we're intending to do with this program is to train across the board, so restaurants, tour guides, hotels - even street vendors we would want to get to. And in this case here, we're focusing on the frontline personnel, our government agencies that work at the PGIA, that work at the cruise ports, and providing them access to training that would increase their ability of how to communicate, and how to deal with people on a day-to-day basis. So, today, in particular, we have a session where we have the Immigration Department, the Customs Department, BAHA, Ministry of Health, even the Department of Civil Aviation, and of course, our own BTB hospitality team, undergoing training on leadership, and how to deal with conflict, and how do deal with communication. We brought in a very well-regarded training company from Canada, called Lemon Eight. The main trainer is Miss Claudine Pohl, and she's taking them through this particular series of content and practicals that will allow them to be better able to manage person-to-person types of communication."

"In the case of this group that we're doing this week, We consider them our sort of frontline, but they're also ambassadors to the country. They're the ones who give the first impression about Belize. And that's a very important part of anything. So, our hope is that by giving them access to this type of training, they can also continue to be the great ambassadors that they are."

Hon. Anthony Mahler - Minister of Tourism & Diaspora Relations
"This is a good time for us to prepare our frontline people, and to take the level of service in Belize to another level."

The frontline personnel will finish up tomorrow, and later on, in the week, other tourism stakeholders will participate in this training.

Channel 7