Training to turn new staff into tourism experts

New Tourism Training Initiative

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TPDD Chief Executive Officer Tara Bennett (right) said Be Douglas would provide a high quality, accurate and consistent information hub through via small business.

CUSTOMER service staff in the Port Douglas and Daintree region will become living and breathing tourist information kiosks under a new online training program unveiled yesterday.

Tourism Port Douglas Daintree (TPDD) launched the Be Douglas training program to empower tourism and hospitality staff to discuss the destination with authority in collaboration with Douglas Shire Council and Douglas Chamber of Commerce.

The program aims to highlight how to anticipate, meet, and exceed the needs of guest expectations, leaving them feeling positive that Douglas Shire is an extraordinary place to visit and return to.

TPDD Chief Executive Officer Tara Bennett said Be Douglas would provide a high quality, accurate and consistent information hub through via small business.

“Featuring six modules, this destination-specific course will make sure employees who may be new the area can maximise the visitor experience,” she said.

“We want all local frontline staff to be walking and talking sales machines representing our beautiful region. Enduring travel tales are of connecting with locals who share a gem or insider tip, we hope to encourage more of this through the platform.

“For many years, visitor research and the regional business community has identified the need for customer service in the destination to be optimised and staff to be better informed on the destination.” 


Providing a casual workforce with better knowledge

The project will help better educate the casual workforce who may lack local knowledge or customer service skills to capitalise on the potential value of each transaction.

The content draws on decades of hotel, retail and hospitality experience answering traveller questions to fast track the local knowledge bank that brings service from good to exceptional.

This activity is being supported by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority through the Queensland Small Business Recovery Centre.


Working together to improve visitor experience

Douglas Chamber of Commerce President Shirl Lyon said the training program would build capability of small business to deliver customer service excellence.

“Provides the perfect opportunity to not only showcase our region to support newcomers but also reminds some of us who have been around a while of what the region has to offer,” she said.

Douglas Shire Mayor Michael Kerr said the training tied in nicely with the Do It In Douglas initiative. “Now is the best time to upskill yourselves and your staff with forward booking data suggesting 2022 will be one our busiest visitor years in recent memory,” he said.

“We want to keep encouraging people to Do It In Douglas, so we all need to do our bit to make sure the visitor experience lives up to our unrivalled reputation.”

The Be Douglas training platform can be viewed here


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