THE Sipalay City Government, through its Tourism Development and Promotions Office, has initiated a training and workshop positioned to level up the skills of tourism frontliners in the southern Negros Occidental locality.
Jerick Lacson, city tourism officer, said the three-day costumer service satisfaction and housekeeping training and workshop at the Sipalay City Tourism Multipurpose Center runs until Friday, July 12.
The activity gathered 30 local tourism frontliners, including owners and managers of resorts, restaurants, pension houses, hotels, and inns.
It is conducted by the Northern Summit Technical Institute, a school in Silay City accredited by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda).
Lacson said this is the first Tesda-based customer service and housekeeping training among local tourism stakeholders in the city.
"It mainly aims to level up the skills of tourism frontliners in handling guests and visitors," he said, adding "it will help us also standardize the housekeeping systems in every accommodation establishment."
Aside from the hands-on activities during the workshop, the training will also help participants create a monitoring mechanism.
This mechanism will be used by the owners to check if they have adapted the system or if they have applied what they learned from the activity, Lacson said.
In terms of gaps, Lacson recognized that most of the tourism frontliners in city are locals who are capable but don't have the technical background in customer service and housekeeping.
They are not a degree holder in tourism or hospitality management, and some are even high school graduates only.
"So we want to level up the tourism services in the city," he said, adding the effort is part of the City Government's thrust for sustainable tourism.
The tourism officer said: "We envision Sipalay City to be a competitive tourism destination not just having a variety of attractions but also quality tourism services and standards."