Players in Tourism and Hospitality Industry Schooled

The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) in collaboration with Ghana CARES Obaatanpa Programme under the Sector Skills Revitalisation Program has held a day’s training workshop for players in the tourism and hospitality industry in Takoradi in the Western region.

The participants were mainly members of the Traditional Caterers Association, Travel and Tour operators, Car Rental Dealers, members of the Ghana Hoteliers Association, Drinking Bar operators and, restaurant and pub operators were drawn from the region.

Mr Lolo Apaloo from the Total Growth Consultancy who spoke on the topic, “customer care services” indicated that the customer is the source of income for our businesses in that their patronage and purchases bring the revenue needed to run the business.

He, therefore, advised the participants to treat their customers well making sure that they are satisfied with the services they requested, having in mind that the customer was “always right” and that they bring the revenue that pays the bills including salaries and allowances.

“The customer pays for all goods and services at your workplace, pays your salaries and also pays your employers profits. The customer is the reason why the business was set up, the customer will keep the business in existence”, he pointed out.

Mr Apaloo mentioned that any negative impression customers have on our businesses may affect the image of the business.

For his part, Mr Dredo K. Azaletey who spoke on digital marketing noted that marketing has always been about connecting with your audience in the right place and at the right time however, today, that means we need to meet them where they are already spending time thus, on the internet.

He indicated that digital marketing, also called online marketing, refers to all marketing efforts that occur on the internet adding that businesses leverage digital channels such as search engines, social media, email, and other websites to connect with current and prospective customers.

This, he said also includes communication through text or multimedia messages.

Touching on the benefits of digital marketing, he mentioned that digital marketing increases recognition, creates a higher level of customer satisfaction, improves brand loyalty, brings cost-effectiveness and is trackable or measurable.

He noted that most business owners don’t use email marketing processes which can enable them to get access to more customers and urged the participants to make use of it to increase their customers and make more revenue.