Learning a Tourism Training Lesson from Fiji
Although Prime Minister John Howard may be involved in some political slanging matches in Fiji right now he will almost certainly be enjoying excellent hospitality from Fiji’s tourism and hospitality professionals.
Fiji has long been a favourite holiday destination for Australians and today I received something which has made me realise why Fiji’s tourism industry continues to make massive advances. Our Fijian colleagues take tourism and hospitality training very seriously.
I will be conducting crisis management training for Fijian travel professionals in both Nadi and Suva for all segments of the industry during Fiji’s Tourism Training Week Dec 1-9. What I was unaware of until I received the program from the Training and Productivity Authority of Fiji that, Tourism Training Week involves over 60 courses conducted all over Fiji on a wide range of subjects from meeting and greeting guests, to advanced marketing, accounting skills, laying of tables in restaurant, customer relations, cultural sensitivity towards tourists from different backgrounds. In fact if you can think of a skill required by travel agents, hoteliers and resort staff, wholesalers, tourist attractions, restaurant owners or coach operators there is a course to match during this incredible week. In addition to the courses there will be a week long celebration of Fiji’s tourism industry which will be opened by the Prime Minister.
There is no doubt that Fiji recognises that tourism is its primary employer and source of income. However the Fijian tourism and hospitality industry’s commitment to excellence and continual improvement should be an object lesson to Australia. There is plenty of excellent tourism and hospitality industry training in Australia especially for those who seek to enter the industry. However, while there is a lot of talk about the importance of in-service training for our management and staff the talk is not always matched by action.
The Fijians have approached tourism training as a national priority encompassing all segments of the industry and the general public. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why inbound Australian tourism is not enjoying the growth that Tourism Australia has been hoping for. There is no doubt that Australia is an outstanding destination by any standards but we are in an increasingly competitive global tourism environment and unless all segments of the tourism experience are operating to world standard it is easy for travellers from major source markets to try other destinations and make comparisons which may not necessarily be in Australia’s favour.
Report by David Beirman
John Alwyn-Jones
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