Advice For Hospitality And Tourism Businesses In Commonwealth Games Run-Up

Specialists involved in the recent successful Vancouver Winter Olympics shared the lessons they learnt from preparing for and hosting the Games in Canada at a workshop hosted by People 1st last month.

Speakers at the workshop included Bruce Dewar, chief executive of 2010 Legacies Now, who has helped 4000 organisations and communities put in place legacy programmes to benefit from the hosting of the Winter Olympics in Canada, and Arlene Keis, chief executive of go2, which played a key role in recruiting and training hundreds of staff to work at the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Key topics covered included:

Recruitment

There was such a last minute demand for additional staff in Canada that up to 30 percent of businesses were not able to fill their vacancies in reasonable time for the Games.

To overcome this, businesses broadened their search for workers to include youngsters who had taken time off to go travelling, older workers and people with disabilities.

Workforce planning

Bruce and Arlene stressed the importance of workforce planning and assessment of the impact a major event has on operations and staffing levels.

From their experience, businesses near an Olympic venue experienced, on average, a 40 percent increase in sales, whilst food operations recruited 45 percent more staff, and tourist attractions nearly 50 percent more staff to cope with demand during the Games.

Training and customer service

In order to provide excellent service, customer facing staff will need to know the locations and transport routes for the events and be trained in how to deal with emergency situations.

Cross training of staff will also be important to ensure they can be as flexible as possible.

Providing for a diverse customer base

Ensuring staff are confident in being able to provide excellent customer service to those with disabilities and those from other cultures can also help to create a lasting legacy, improving a business's bottom line over time.

People 1st's State of the Nation 2010 report includes an in-depth study of hospitality and tourism businesses' experiences at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

For more information visit people1st.co.uk/stateofthenation