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Are you ready to welcome the world to Northern Ireland in 2012?

Tourism Minister Arlene Foster and Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry, today urged Northern Ireland’s tourism and hospitality industry to grasp the opportunities available to the sector in 2012 and beyond
~ Thursday, 26 January 2012

Launching WorldHost, an internationally renowned customer service training programme, the Ministers addressed over 190 delegates at the event in the Clandeboye Lodge Hotel in Bangor. The WorldHost Programme will provide training for front-line staff in hospitality, tourism and passenger transport in what is a landmark year of opportunity for tourism in Northern Ireland.

Highlighting the importance of high quality customer service, Tourism Minister Arlene Foster said: “This is an exciting time for Northern Ireland tourism. With the NI2012 programme of events and top class visitor attractions opening, we have an unprecedented opportunity to put Northern Ireland on the map and to generate future tourism business.

“Hundreds of thousands of visitors will come here in 2012 and over the next few years. From the moment they arrive, to the transport services they use, and the places and attractions they visit, the customer-facing staff which they interact with all have the opportunity to shape our visitors’ experience.

“The WorldHost Programme will help to support businesses to deliver excellent levels of customer service and to reaffirm the message that Northern Ireland is a great place to visit.”

The WorldHost Programme has been developed in Northern Ireland by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, the Department for Employment and Learning and the sector skills council -- People 1st, in order to help businesses gain a competitive edge in this time of opportunity for the tourism, hospitality, leisure and passenger transport sectors.

Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry said: “WorldHost is an excellent example of how upskilling Northern Ireland’s workforce can make a real difference. With events around the Titanic anniversary, the Olympics, the World Police and Fire Games and the UK City of Culture in the North West we project that the number of visitors to Northern Ireland will be very significant over the next few years. This is excellent news for the local economy and WorldHost provides a great opportunity to help those in tourist-related businesses prepare to showcase Northern Ireland, its people and places to the world. I heartily commend it and am pleased to be able to provide financial support to small and medium sized businesses to help them grasp the opportunity which WorldHost presents.”

Roisin McKee, Northern Ireland manager, People 1st, commented: “Customer service is a vital part of the visitor experience, but it is a real skills need for tourism businesses – our recent State of the Nation report found that 64% of employers feel that customer handling skills need improving within their workforce. This is why we are introducing WorldHost customer service training to Northern Ireland. WorldHost has a proven track record, and we are delighted that NITB is partnering with us to deliver the programme.

“This new venture will help to drive our ambition for businesses to deliver an authentic Northern Ireland experience, by ensuring that visitors are provided with a world-class service.”

Notes to editors:

  1. WorldHost was first developed in Canada and has been used to train over one million people around the world. The programme has since been successfully launched in the UK by People 1st, supported by VisitEngland, and will be used to train tens of thousands of staff and contractors working at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In order to effect a step-change in customer service standards throughout the UK, People 1st has launched a campaign to train 200,000 front-line staff throughout hospitality, tourism and passenger transport in readiness for the series of world-class events being hosted in the UK which, in addition to the Olympics and Northern Ireland’s celebrations, includes the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the 2015 Rugby World Cup and the 2017 World Athletics Championships.
  2. For more information on the WorldHost programme courses that are now available in Northern Ireland visit http://www.worldhostni.comlink to external website.
  3. DEL is providing financial support to help private sector businesses with less than 250 employees invest in upskilling and developing their workforce to meet the challenge of providing first class customer experience for visitors to Northern Ireland. This dovetails with the Department’s overall ambition to raise the levels of skills across the Northern Ireland workforce.
  4. For media enquiries contact DETI Press Office on 028 9052 9604. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.