Westport of Co. Mayo has become the first Irish town to be awarded Fáilte Ireland’s Destination Award for Excellence in Customer Service. To achieve the award, tourism businesses in Westport undertook Fáilte Ireland’s Accredited Service Excellence Programme with over 300 local tourism frontline staff across 18 businesses completing a dedicated course of customer care training.
Fáilte Ireland’s Services Excellence Programme is aimed at helping tourism businesses reach the highest standards in customer care, which can result in major benefits such as business growth, additional repeat business, increased visitor spend and positive recommendations. The award can be presented to individual businesses or to a whole town.
"A Historic Day"
Unveiling a plaque to mark the presentation of the Destination Award, minister for rural and community development Michael Ring T.D said, “It is a historic day for Westport as it leads the way for the rest of the country in terms of providing excellence in customer care and service provision. The many tens of thousands of visitors that come to Westport each year can testify to the warmth and welcoming nature of the town and surrounding areas. [This] award is confirmation of something I have always known, that Westport guarantees a best in class customer service and a holiday to remember for visitors.”
Meanwhile, Fáilte Ireland chief executive Paul Kelly commented, “Westport is the first town in Ireland to achieve a Destination Award from our Fáilte Ireland Accredited Service Excellence Programme. Through the programme, we are helping tourism businesses to strengthen their competitiveness and to offer a truly authentic and impressive welcome. Putting visitors at the centre of everything we do gives us another competitive edge as we seek to compete internationally to win new visitors and welcome previous guests back. Well done Westport for providing a great example of how it’s done.”
© 2018 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
