We are pleased to announce our Spring schedule of tourism training. Course venues will be determined based on demand.
For full details and to register for a course, please contact Jean O’Sullivan by Friday 21st March E: jean@wcdp.ie T: 023 8834035.
Participating in these courses is a requirement in making an application to join the West Cork Regional Branding Initiative, Fuchsia Brands. See www.westcorkaplaceapart.com for more information.
9, 16, 23 & 30 April
1.Marketing understood
2.Market Research in your tourism business
3.Customer Care
Workshop 2. “Planning Selling & Marketing Activity”
1.Marketing Planning
2.Selling Skills role-plays
Workshop 3. “Social Media for small tourism enterprises”
Learners will be required to bring laptops for in class reviews work on own websites, SEO etc.
1.How social media can work for small tourism enterprises-best in class examples
2.Linking FACEBOOK; your website; TWITTER
3.Tips on how to maximise one’s time on social media
Workshop 4. “Bringing it all Together in 2014”
1. Part2 of the Marketing Plan i.e. strategy and action plans for 2014-5
2.Collaboratve marketing-a brainstorming exercise with learners to identify ways to work together in 2014One session
One-to-one follow-up Mentoring via Skype or telephone after the programme.
Develop a clear understanding of the main areas of cost control and cashflow. Learn how to complete a cashflow. Discuss and develop ideas on how to cut costs without cutting customer service.
Cashflow and how it works. Costs and practical ways on how to control them. How to practically reduce every cost heading in your P&L account. Identifying costs that do not impact on your service delivery. Pricing Methods and BEP.
Cost Control through Stock control.
Afternoon Session:
Outline the main areas of Business Finance. Provide an overview of Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet and Cashflow. Explain the differences between Capital and Revenue. Explain the differences between financial growth and financial stability. Understand the importance of working capital. Discuss KPI’s, Examine the areas of:
• Costs – Fixed and Variable
• Breakeven point (concept, maths, rationale)
• The importance of BEP for effective pricing and how to use the formulaeBecome familiar with financial decisions surrounding assets. Provide introduction to Business Tools Online.
Session One: Introduction to the course, research techniques and information sources to equip the learners with the necessary skill set to carry out historical research and how to turn the raw material of the research into interesting stories or easily digestible information that will encourage visitors to the area to stay and explore.
Session Two: Tourism Product knowledge – how to assess the local history in the area and how to interpret the sites and create itineraries for visitors utilising and showcasing the wonderful heritage of West Cork. This session will focus on the changes imprinted upon the landscape of West Cork, and show the learners how to discover the evidence of human activity in the region over the millennia.
Session Three: Communication and oral presentation skills. A practical class where role play is used to highlight the importance of good communication when imparting information to the public with a focus on body language and voice projection. Topics such as: An Introduction to Communication: The Communication Process, and Inhibitors of Communication will be discussed. Feedback based on the role-play sessions will also be evaluated.
DAY TWO
Session Four: Customer Service. This important class will cover topics such as the principles of customer service, the types of customers that may be encountered, customer needs and wants, customer perceptions, active listening skills, how to professionally deal with complaints and compliments, dealing with correspondence and communication technologies.
Session Five: Focus on tour management skills. This session shall discuss group dynamics and how a guide / leader can deal with issues that may arise during a tour. Practical solutions to issues that arise with tourism groups will be outlined. A comprehensive overview of the various agencies working in Ireland to promote tourism and to ensure tourists safety will also be completed.
Session Six: This class will be a practical class where learners will display their communication and presentation skills that have been discussed in the previous sessions. This class will be an important opportunity for the learners to showcase their skills and their local area. Each learner will deliver a ten minute presentation on the local heritage in their area. An evaluation will be compiled of each learner’s presentation and feedback to each learner will be delivered after the session is complete.
Learning Outcomes of this Training Programme
From this course the learners will gain the ability to:
• Demonstrate knowledge of primary and secondary historical sources and will be able to utilise these sources to obtain accurate historical and archaeological information.
• Demonstrate tourism product knowledge. Have a general understanding of the archaeological and historical heritage of Ireland and have an understanding of the local history and archaeology of West Cork
• Demonstrate verbal skills including making a case and presenting a point of view in group discussion and interviews held by an outside organisation.
• Demonstrate listening skills, to include making eye contact, receiving and interpreting information, control of personal response in line with working in the tourism sector.
• Examine the principles of customer service within the tourism sector and identify the key features of good customer service, to include distinguishing between different kinds of customers, making a good first impression, meeting customer needs, handling complaints and compliments, catering for diversity and disability, understanding and responding to customer perceptions
• Apply the personal skills, qualities and attitudes required to perform effectively when dealing with customers, to include active listening skills, positive body language and observation of customer behaviour
• Handle a range of challenging situations that can occur when working in the tourism industry, (including late and unexpected arrivals, customer errors, difficult customers and changing environments).
• Demonstrate an ability to implement appropriate tour management skills to cater for large groups of tourists.
The programme will be facilitated by a trained facilitator (GAP Trainers Programme delivered at Nano Nagle Centre in 2010 and UNEP approved). Generally sessions would be 3 hour duration with the flexibility of adding in relevant site visits or additional elements e.g. external input from CIT Clean Technology Centre.As an example of programme content, waste management issues are dealt with in depth during the first module and then re-visited during each subsequent module. Composting and waste separation are covered extensively. It is constantly emphasised that these are the core actions of the programme and participants are strongly encouraged to set up relevant systems. Participants complete an exercise that highlights the importance of the waste hierarchy and many of the suggested actions are aimed at encouraging ‘reduce’ and ‘reuse’ in preference to ‘recycle’.
Typical actions for the topics are listed below:
Waste
• Understanding how to compost effectively exploring options for individual needs e.g. wormery, bio-digestion, standard composting.
• Food waste prevention including aspects of the EPA “Stop Food Waste” programme.
• Streamlining the overall reduction of waste and introducing guest appropriate waste separation system.
Water
• Installing water efficient devices & flow regulators e.g. aerated shower heads and tap inserts.
• Through the assessment of water usage, implementing individually tailored water reduction strategies e.g. water harvesting and dual flush devices
Energy
• Monitoring energy usage (using energy metres) and assessing where energy is being wasted.
• Promoting guest awareness regarding energy usage e.g. requests to not leave appliances on standby.
• Implementing energy efficient strategies e.g. fitting LED/ CFL light bulbs, sealing drafts, radiator reflectors.
Consumerism
• Supporting local producers and where possible being more self-sufficient e.g. growing vegetables and keeping fowl.
• Developing greater ethical and environmental awareness around consumption e.g. levels of toxic chemicals used in textile production and Fairtrade production.
• Accommodation providers consume large quantities of washing powder, cleaning products and linen. The programme will encourage the development and adoption of a “green procurement” charter.
Transport
Transport forms part of the householder programme. It is covered in the GAP for Guesthouses but not very extensively as options in rural West Cork are limited, however, it is an important aspect for tourists and is beneficial to have some input on.
• Using the ISEMOA Auditor Training toolkit the facilitator will support participants to
look at services and gaps that may exist and possible solutions.
• Exploring transport schemes that could be replicated e.g. Sustainable Clonakilty Bike Hire Scheme
Impact
The programme is a practical and positive approach to developing easy to implement solutions in some of the areas which are the biggest costs for providers, especially energy and water.
• The Programme will help accommodation providers to investigate and implement simple positive changes to their accommodation business.
• The changes will result in resource efficiency that will save them money and reduce some of the negative effects on the environment.
• Customers are increasingly choosing sustainable hospitality services that include accommodation. Accommodation providers will receive a Certificate and a copy of the “Green Procurement Charter” which will be developed and adopted during the programme, both can be displayed in their premises.
• In conjunction with WCDP (use of Fuchsia branding etc.) aspects of environmentally friendly practices adopted can be highlighted throughout their premises, in the pilot programmes guesthouses applied Green Tick stickers for lights and appliances.
• Customers who choose guesthouses accommodation are looking for a more personal and cultural experience, seeing where the egg on their breakfast plate comes from contributes to a positive and memorable experience.
• It will provide a valuable networking opportunity and build a relationship between these providers who can work together in the future on common goals.
• It will help businesses to work together on common challenges in relation to transport and in promoting the region as an eco-tourism destination.
• It will assist businesses to engage in the larger national programmes such as the Green Hospitality Programme.
