Red Carpet Service expands its offerings with online training
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 - 4:02 pm
LINCOLN - The University of Nebraska Rural Initiative has been working with people for about five years to help them promote tourism in their communities. Now the university is using technology to extend its reach.
The Rural Initiative plans to offer its Red Carpet Service tourism training online, enabling even more people to take it, said Connie Francis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension educator in Grand Island. The Red Carpet Service program trains "front-line employees," or those who are first responders to visitors, how to promote tourism, thus potentially increasing the economic impact of tourism in a community.
"We are excited about the possibilities for this new approach to hospitality training in Nebraska," Francis said. "We hope the online format will make Red Carpet Service training available to more people because they can access it at their convenience 24/7."
Francis and extension specialist Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel have taught 26 Red Carpet classes for employees of hotels and motels, restaurants and other hospitality businesses in communities across Nebraska and South Dakota since 2004. The classes, geared toward front-line employees and their managers, consist of two 2-1/2-hour sessions.
The sessions address topics such as the economics of tourism, available tourism resources and even the importance of giving good directions to visitors. One of the homework assignments, Francis said, is to find a "hidden treasure" within the community that would be of interest to visitors.
"That is a highlight," she said. "Participants often think their area doesn't have much to offer but they come back with great ideas. People get really excited about their communities. We tell them to keep building their list."
"It is important for front-line professionals to know what is in their community so they can give great referrals to travelers," Burkhart-Kriesel said. "It is common to forget regional treasures.
When we do, we miss an opportunity. The longer travelers stay, the more dollars they spend."
The online training will be unveiled at the Nebraska Travel Conference in Norfolk on Oct. 22, Francis said. It will be a self-paced interactive training set up in eight modular steps, each of which can be completed in 15 to 30 minutes. Modules include video clips, interactive situations,
Web searches and more.
The purpose is to help participants become more aware of the impact of tourism in Nebraska and the importance of the opportunities to influence a positive visitor experience, Francis said.
Kaleena Fong, executive director of the Adams County Convention & Visitors Bureau in Hastings, previewed the online class.
"It was very effective," she said. "It was a nice way to bring the training program into something employees can do on their own time. I found a way to fit it into my schedule because I could stop and start."
The cost will be $250 for an online subscription, which allows an unlimited number of employees to take the training, Francis said. Francis expects the primary purchasers will be chambers of commerce and convention and visitors bureaus, which will then make it available to businesses in their communities.
The cost of the in-person training is $1,250 with a typical class being from 25 to 30 people from a community.
Fong said the reduced cost of the online course will make it more financially feasible for businesses to take the training, and she expects it to result in more communities increasing their tourism dollars.
"It will help communities in the long run," Fong said. "When you're working on the front line, you don't think about what's happening outside your own cash register. I think this will get them to think a little more about how they address visitors."
