SOME 30 employees of the Buddy’s Entertainment Centre on Sheriff Street in Georgetown, were given a chance to enhance their customer service skills at a training session Tuesday, organised by the Ministry of Tourism and the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA). This is part of ongoing training programmes being conducted by the Ministry of Tourism in an effort to improve the quality of service delivered in the tourism and hospitality industry.
Supervisors, barmen, waiters and waitresses of Buddy’s various facilities – the restaurant, night club and pool hall — participated in the interactive session held in the Mei Tung Restaurant.
The training was facilitated by the Deputy Director of GTA, Ms. Tameca Sukhdeo-Singh, and the session touched on various areas, such as how important customers are to the business, basics of customer service, and effective communication, like how to greet customers and some ground rules in providing quality customer service, which would help them to become more welcoming and hospitable to customers.
During the session, participants were also provided with an opportunity to share their views and experiences about customer service.
General Manager of Buddy’s, Mr. Seelall Pharbo, said they welcomed such training as they are continuously striving to improve the quality of service delivered to customers and the training is a vital move in taking the businesses to a higher level.
He thanked the Ministry of Tourism and the GTA for providing the training.
The ministry and the GTA realise the importance of capacity building and are committed to providing training in this growing industry. They need to ensure that quality service is provided to visitors and tourists alike.
As Guyana becomes a competitive tourist destination, training is very critical to the tourism and hospitality industry; and as such, the Tourism Ministry has embarked over the last few years on a series of training programmes in areas such as customer service, event management, tour guiding, culinary arts, packaging, and bookkeeping.