Keep visitors with service attitude

(Baonghean) -In building the beauty of tourism culture, in addition to the efforts of departments, branches, local authorities and people, the role of human resources in the tourism industry is very important. The following are the opinions of people who are directly working in different areas of the tourism industry that Nghe An Newspaper reporters had the opportunity to discuss.

Mr. Bui The Vu - Tour guide of Thai Son Tourism Company

“As a Northerner, before working in Nghe An, I worked for many travel agencies and visited almost all the famous tourist destinations in the country. In my opinion, compared to many other provinces and cities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Quang Ninh, Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan, etc., although Nghe An has great potential in terms of nature and culture, it has very few tourism products, so it has not attracted many tourists, especially international tourists. Therefore, functional sectors and tourism businesses need to coordinate closely to diversify tourism products, build many attractive products to attract and retain tourists.

However, before creating more tourism products, it is very important to create an impression for tourists about Nghe An, a land rich in cultural identity, unique, new but close and friendly, and to do this, the role of tour guides is not small. It must be affirmed that tour guides not only have good appearance, good health, and proficiency in foreign languages, but also have in-depth knowledge in many aspects, especially knowledge of local culture where there are tourist attractions. Because the job of a tour guide is to be a spokesperson for a locality or place, it requires that the information must be accurate, the way of communication must be attractive, helping tourists have a correct view of the culture of that land. In other words, tour guides are the "cultural bridge" between tourists and the locality where they visit.

If all tour guides in Nghe An are aware of that, along with efforts to strengthen their communication skills and foreign language proficiency, they will become dynamic and active propagandists in promoting the image of Nghe An land, people, and tourism to a large number of domestic and international tourists.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa - Room service staff at Phuong Dong Hotel

“As far as I know, for tourists, their impression of the service staff at accommodation establishments such as hotels, motels, etc. is almost the same as their first impression of the local people where the tourist attractions are located. At Phuong Dong Hotel, over the years, service staff such as receptionists and room attendants have been regularly trained and improved in customer communication skills, building a professional service style.

In particular, in addition to professional service style, honesty and sincerity are the top requirements that hotel leaders often remind employees, especially the housekeeping staff. Because only then, when coming to the hotel, tourists will feel like they are at home: warm, friendly and safe, with absolute peace of mind about their property. I myself and many other brothers and sisters in the housekeeping department have voluntarily returned lost items found while on duty, including many properties worth hundreds of millions of VND. I think, not only leaders and employees of accommodation establishments in the area but also vendors and drivers who pick up and drop off tourists need to show honesty and sincerity in the process of working and communicating with tourists, so that the image of Nghe An people becomes more friendly and beautiful".

Mr. Nguyen Trong Binh - Owner of Binh Cuc Restaurant, Cua Lo Town

“Building a “Civilized Restaurant” is a very necessary policy. Because no matter how beautiful the landscape is, how delicious the seafood is, if the service providers are not friendly and civilized, they will displease tourists and make it difficult to attract them to come back a second time. To be recognized as a “Civilized Restaurant”, we must ensure the following criteria: publicly posting prices and not raising prices; the staff must have professional qualifications in tourism, with a friendly and enthusiastic service attitude; environmental sanitation and food safety must be guaranteed… And in the process of my business activities, I always think about how to not only maintain but also promote the title of “Civilized Restaurant”. Therefore, in the early days of the 2014 tourist season, I often pay attention to repairing and upgrading facilities; supervising and screening staff to always create a quick and enthusiastic service style; diversifying the preparation of dishes…

In my opinion, the construction of “Civilized Restaurants” has created a movement to improve the quality of service for tourists at restaurants in the town, contributing to building the image of Cua Lo as friendly and hospitable. However, there are still many restaurants with simple and unprofessional food preparation techniques and service styles, but the prices are expensive. In addition, the source of seafood in the area is limited, so our restaurants have to buy from other localities, so we cannot be proactive in price and quality. Therefore, I hope that in the coming time, the relevant departments need to pay attention to overcoming the above shortcomings to have more civilized restaurants, attract more tourists and develop together.

Minh Quan(Take note)