Carlisle Renaissance

Local tourism businesses see stars

(Date of issue: Wednesday, 6 August 2008)

Nine local bed & breakfast providers will be seeing stars this Friday (8 August), when they each receive a national tourism accreditation.

The Mayor of Carlisle, Cllr Jacquelyne Geddes will present the prestigious ‘Welcome to Excellence’ plaques to the Carlisle-based accommodation providers at a special Civic reception held in their honour at the Civic Centre, at 12noon.

As part of a Carlisle Renaissance initiative, Carlisle City Council has been working with Cumbria Tourism to deliver a programme of customer care training. This has led to the businesses achieving the prestigious Welcome to Excellence standard.

Jointly funded by the North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and the City Council, the scheme was part of a series of initiatives that aimed to help tourism businesses to improve their productivity and performance.

Carlisle City Cllr Marilyn Bowman, Portfolio holder for Economic Development and Enterprise, said:

"Through Carlisle Renaissance, we are delivering projects on the ground that are helping people into employment, set up new businesses and provide support to existing businesses. The customer care training undertaken by some our of local b&bs shows that they constantly wanting to improve their business and they recognise that achieving a national accreditation is a useful marketing tool to attract potential visitors. Well done to all the nine businesses who have met the national ‘Welcome to Excellence’ standard."

Additional help has included one-to-one business advice, advice on making better use of IT including trading on line, as well as a series of business development days where businesses can learn best practice from each other. The City Council has also been working with Cumbria Tourism to deliver a programme called Profit through Productivity.

Paula Scott, Business Development Manager, Cumbria Tourism, said:

"Excellent customer service is crucial to the success of tourism businesses and we are pleased to work with Carlisle City Council in encouraging local businesses to participate in the Welcome to Excellence programme."