AMMAN (JT) — Best practice, the idea of achieving the optimal in delivering service felt on the ground by the tourist, is becoming a buzzword among officials in Aqaba.

“Best practices are important because they benchmark quality,” Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) Chief Commissioner Nader Dahabi said.

Speaking on the campaign to increase the length of stay of domestic tourists in Aqaba, he pointed out that the adoption of best practices in the hotel, catering, and more generally the tourism sector ensures high standards and puts faith in the local tourism establishments, according to an ASEZA statement.

“Best practices infer the adoption of means, methods and behaviour to offer quality services to tourists so they can enjoy their stay when they are visiting the city,” Dahabi added.

This can range from how to open the door for visitors to seating them at dinner, answering their calls, telling where to go in the city and just simply offering them a smile.

“We already have some of the best hotels in the city that offer service of international standards and quality to make sure that clients, both domestic and international, receive only the best, when they come to Aqaba,” the ASEZA chief commissioner said.

Currently Aqaba has a large number of five-, four-, three- and even two-star hotels, as well as apartments and other tourist projects. In addition, many more are on the way in line with the five-year National Tourism Strategy, which forecasts two million tourists who will want to visit the city by 2010.

Today’s tourists whether local, regional and international want to be pampered and looked after by the staff, the statement said.

“Tourists are looking for the little details of the smile, being received at the dinner table, prompt room service, clean laundry,” said a tourism expert working with ASEZA.

“Because we live in a world where we are constantly bombarded by news, today’s tourists are very inquisitive and have an enormous appetite for information. That’s why staff in the tourism industry must be knowledgeable about the local surroundings and be able to give advice on simple things such as how to get to the nearest pharmacy, where travellers’ cheques can be exchanged, the location of the post office...,” the expert added.

It is for this reason, ASEZA’s tourism division is now advocating and embarking on across-the-board training for the whole of the tourism sector to make sure tourists receive quality service and the best standards are maintained, according to the statement.

“We are required to undergo a three-day training period,” said Abu Mohammad, a taxi driver working in Aqaba.

This is part of a training course the ASEZA tourism division is undertaking to implement best practices in the city.

“This course is compulsory and includes ways and means of dealing with members of the public and tourists, and telling them about our city, being civil and friendly, informing them about the different places to visit, and how to get from one place to another,” he added.

The training of taxi drivers is only part of training workshops to make sure staff and managers give only the best service and are updated with international industry standards.

“The tourism division in cooperation with the IS-ASEZA, an EU-funded project, already conducted a survey to gauge the training needs of the Aqaba tourism sector, and we are already providing workshops to make sure staff are fully trained...,” a tourism official added.

The workshops cover the catering and hotel industries as well as general tourism development. They include topics such as languages, customer services, dealing with tourists, housekeeping, hospitality and hygiene, computer skills, communications and marketing.

“ASEZA puts a high premium on training because it believes this is the best way to ensure satisfaction and cement a strong relationship between staff of different tourist establishments and their guests, and this in itself ensures quality,” Dahabi said.

Aqaba tourism employers are well aware of the need to hold training workshops, and thus are working in cooperation with the tourism division to upgrade the level of service, the statement said.

“Aqaba already established itself as a tourism hub in the 1980s and 1990s, and what is happening now is building on that experience,” another local tourism expert said.

“We want to make sure that the staff of the hotels are fully-trained in dealing with customers, and in handling them with care,” according to a hotel owner.

“That is why we support training efforts in different fields; for although the majority of the staff may know how to handle visitors and look after them, such workshops and seminars are important because they add to the knowledge of the staff and introduce them to new practices, which they can apply in their daily work environments,” he added.

Back to June 30, 2006