GTA builds capacity of hospitality service providers
BY: Rejoice Lavinia Eklu
Mr Ben Anane Nsiah (2nd right) and the participants Follow @Graphicgh
The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) has organised a capacity building training for service providers in the accommodation, food and beverage sectors to improve on their service delivery.
The participants included representatives from Alisa Hotel, African Regent, Central Hotel, Cleaver House, M Plaza Hotel, Azmera Restaurant, Angehill Hotel, lmperial Peking and Sam's Cottage Hotel.
The programme, which was organised under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture as part of the implementation of the GH¢100 billion COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalisation of Enterprises Support initiative, christened "Ghana CARES (Obaatan pa) Programme.
The project is targeted at building the capacity of 10,000 people in the hospitality industry, comprising 5,000 car rental companies and taxi drivers and 5,000 workers in hotels and catering facilities.
The initiative is to improve skills in the hospitality industry to revamp the sector which was hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking at the opening of the five-day training programme in Accra yesterday, the Director, Product and Investment at the GTA, Mr Ben Anane Nsiah, noted that the training would be replicated in other regions in the coming days.
He said there was the need to keep enhancing the skills of service providers in the hospitality industry because service delivery was critical to the patronage of the country's tourism products and the survival of the industry.
The training, Mr Nsiah said, was geared towards instilling professionalism and promoting quality assurance in the industry.
"Government can put up infrastructure such as roads, airport etc. But if the people interfacing with the visitors or customers do not deliver professional services of international standard, we undermine our competitiveness as a nation," he stated.
At the event, the participants were engaged on topics such as tourism product knowledge, digital marketing and customer service.
One of the participants, Mr Christian Gyan, who is a Sales and Marketing Executive at Alisa Hotel, said the training was timely and laudable, and added, "it is an opportunity for me to learn something new and improve my skills".
He advised his colleague service providers to execute their duties responsibly and professionally.
"Render good service to your customers because they are more important," he said.
In September this year, the GTA equipped 65 inspectorate officers with skills under the Ghana CARES "Obaatan Pa" programme to ensure effective management of tourism establishments and facilities.
It also trained 400 drivers from various car rental companies in Accra under the project last month.