Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).
Similarly, families value extra services provided for
young children, such as buggies at tourist attractions
and baby-changing facilities.
improve their language skills, such as the Welcome
International courses offered by Regional and National
Tourist Boards.
Weblink
Check out this website for information on
Welcome Host and Welcome International
courses.
www.welcometoexcellence.co.uk
Customer service
The standard of service that tourists receive is perhaps
the single most important factor that affects their
holiday or travel experience. Whether travelling on a
budget or using 5-star facilities, visitors have a right to
expect good value for money and excellent customer
service. Poor service can ruin a holiday, whereas friendly,
attentive and effi cient staff can make a trip all the
more memorable. Visitors from overseas may be used
to different standards of service from staff working in
travel and tourism in their own countries. The UK sector
must continue to train staff in the importance of high
quality customer service. The Welcome Host suite of
courses offers travel and tourism businesses structured
training in customer care.
Value for money and cost
Everybody looks for good value for money when they
are travelling, whether on a trip to Paris with a budget
airline or an expensive cruise across the Atlantic
aboard Cunard's Queen Mary 2. Research carried out
by VisitBritain indicates that the UK is considered to be
an expensive place to visit by many inbound tourists,
particularly those from Europe's emerging economies,
for example the Czech Republic, Latvia and Estonia.
The cost of food, drink and public transport are singled
out as being especially high, particularly in major cities
around the UK. Fluctuations in exchange rates can
affect the cost of visiting a country - for example, a rise
in the value of the pound against the Euro will make
it more expensive for visitors to Britain from countries
such as France, Spain and Germany. Many domestic
and incoming tourists use the internet to fi nd the best
prices for travel, holidays and accommodation, hoping
to pick up a good-value deal at short notice.
For more than half of all overseas visitors to Britain,
English is not their fi rst language, making language
translation a particular need for many inbound tourists
to the UK. Before they travel, information in a person's
own language makes travel planning much easier. This
is why tourist boards produce brochures, advertising
and websites in the home language of overseas
visitors, particularly targeting countries with the
greatest number of visitors to the UK. When in Britain,
a person's stay can be made much more enjoyable by
offering a range of facilities, for example:
Activities
Signposting in many languages;
The sheer range and variety of things to do in the UK
is one of the reasons why it is so popular with overseas
visitors and domestic tourists. Many of our most popular
activities and attractions are connected to our heritage.
Visitors are drawn to our historic towns, landscapes,
castles, stately homes, royalty and ancient monuments.
Heritage tourism is also used in urban regeneration
schemes, for example at Wigan Pier, Beamish Open
Air Museum and Big Pit Mining Museum. Castles are
major heritage attractions for tourists, particularly in
Wales and Scotland. In Wales, many castles have been
awarded World Heritage Site status, including those at
Caernarvon, Harlech and Conwy. North of the border,
Edinburgh Castle is the best-known and most-visited
of all heritage properties in Scotland.
Multilingual menus;
Tour guides who can speak more than one
language;
Multilingual audio guides at attractions;
Leafl ets and brochures in a range of languages.
An understanding of other languages, no matter how
limited, can often make overseas visitors to the UK feel
more welcome and comfortable. Welcome, bienvenue,
wilkommen or bienvenido, said in a warm and friendly
manner in any language makes a visitor to a foreign
country feel special and wanted. Staff working in travel
and tourism can take advantage of training courses to
 
 
 
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