Perthshire for news, events, listings, tourism and other issues that
may or may not be going on in Perthshire.
Hospitality Training Perthshire
"All progress occurs because people dare to be different." Harry Millner
£1m drive to raise levels of Scottish tourism - Teaching people to be polite to visitors.
FAWLTY Towers hotels, rip-off visitor attractions and bad restaurants are to be stamped out in a new campaign aimed at driving up standards in Scottish tourism.
The £1 million nationwide initiative will enlist Scotland's best hoteliers, tour firms and front-of-house staff to encourage better service and weed out others who are letting the industry down.
The "pride and passion" scheme, developed by the Scottish Tourism Forum, has already signed up almost 200 tourism operators who have agreed to encourage better standards by setting the best possible example to others.
The move is a response to long-standing criticism of Scotland's tourism industry, in which the reputation of excellent hotels and places to visit is sometimes tarnished by rivals indifferent or unable to offer adequate customer service.
Laurence Young, chairman of Freedom of the Glen hotels and a major backer of the plan, said: "We have to cull out the inadequate, the indifferent and the unacceptable. Pride and passion is about encouraging everyone in the industry, including individual workers who deal face to face with visitors, to be passionate about Scotland and about the level of service they provide.
"There are excellent places in Scotland and there some who need encouragement or who need to learn how things can be improved. We need to shout about the many, many things we do well."
The private sector scheme is backed by public sector money from VisitScotland, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. Jennifer Neil, the project director, said: "We find there are three groups of people working in the tourism industry: some are so proud of their work and proud of Scotland that they make every possible effort for visitors and sign up to lots of industry initiatives; some are dispassionate providers who are delivering a product rather than an experience and don't see themselves as having a wider role to play in Scottish tourism.
"We are targeting the middle group - those who simply need advice, a helping hand or maybe extra training - in the hope of tipping the balance in favour of excellence."
She added: "If you run a good hotel, for example, you want to know that the restaurant up the road or the visitor attraction next door isn't going to spoil the experience of Scotland for your own customers. It is up to everyone in the industry to drive up standards and make things better for everyone."
A spokeswoman for VisitScotland, which is providing the majority of the funding for the project, said: "We fully support this initiative because it is up to the industry to address these issues. We can do everything possible to bring visitors to Scotland, but what happens to them when they get here is a matter for individual businesses and operators."
The project will operate alongside VisitScotland's quality assurance schemes for hotels, bed and breakfasts and visitor attractions. Tourism is one of Scotland's biggest industries, generating more than £4.5 billion for the economy and accounting for one in ten jobs and providing employment for more than 250,000 people.
Article from The Scotsman 4th June 2005
Admission to failing standards could be a step in the right direction. Surely if you are in the tourist business manners and quality service is something that should not have to be demonstrated. Draw you own conclusions here folks.
