Waterford aims to win tourists with front-of-house tourism staff

STAFF who will meet and greet the tens of thousands of tourists and visitors to Waterford this year are being invited to a unique, one-day hospitality training event in mid-June.

With the busy tourism season moving into top gear, a training initiative which combines Waterford destination awareness with quality customer care has been launched. Developed by the Visit-Net Tourism Project Office at Waterford County Council and Waterford Institute of Technology, Welcome Waterford will provide an overview of the value of tourism as well as modules on what to see and do in the city and county. It also stresses the importance of sourcing and managing information and of excellent customer care.

According to Máiread Linneen of Visit-Net, one of the biggest challenges facing the tourism industry in Waterford has always been how it retains a greater share of the visitors who pass through en route to the south-west of Ireland or the ferry terminal at Rosslare.