A new program is offering free classes for tourism industry workers that will raise the bar for service standards across the mountains.

Steele O’Neil & Associates together with the College of the Rockies (COTR), is offering a free program called Essential Skills for the East Kootenay Tourism Industry.

The program is being offered in Golden, November 24 to 27 and features a wide variety of classes designed to teach participants a new set of competitive skills.

According to the program information form, the workshops will teach employees how to be a valuable team member, how to use skills to advance in the workplace, customer service, cross cultural training and computer skills. Those who participate will earn COTR certificates.

Schaun Goodeve, Program Co-ordinator, says that tourism skills are essential for mountain towns such as Golden, where the economy is shifting from resource-based to tourism. He says there is a gap in knowledge in the industry because it is still relatively new.

“It’s the employees who need to get these skills. The people who are renting rooms in the hotels, the maintenance workers, these are the people who are interacting with the guests. We have an amazing product here with our natural beauty, but we need to establish ourselves. Another part of it is that people in the industry are not regarded as highly as they should be.”

Greg McCullum, Training Co-ordinator, says there’s a lot of focus in the marketing of mountain towns, but in order for people to visit and return to the area there needs to be good staff who are knowledgeable about their jobs and the products.

“This is a good opportunity to strengthen skills so the customers will return and we can build loyalty,” says McCullum.

Instructors from in and out of town will deliver the courses. One of the local instructors is Leslie Adams, who will be teaching an afternoon course called, True Colours.

“In this workshop people will learn their own strengths and weaknesses and that of other people as well. Participants will learn how to work within personality types, how to communicate, listen and recognize, and how to be tolerant of other people’s ideas,” says Adams.

For more information, visit www.steeleoneil.com or call Schaun Goodeve at 250-417-1906.