The Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB) commended local organisation Account NI for their dedication to customer care today as a Gold Award was presented at a ceremony at NITB Headquarters.

Alan Clarke, Chief Executive at NITB said: “These awards ensure that customer experience remains high on the agenda for the tourism and hospitality sectors in Northern Ireland.”

“One of the critical success factors underpinning NITB’s strategy is the development of capability and skills within the industry. Northern Ireland’s success as a visitor destination will depend on its ability to deliver a world class experience and customer service.  This extends far beyond the tourism sector – it impacts on every aspect of Northern Ireland.  It is critical that we equip our industry with the skills they need to compete globally and secure repeat and referral visits.”

“Account NI should be commended for their excellent level of commitment to customer service and staff development.”
Account NI is the new financial processing centre rolling out across Northern Ireland Executive Departments over the next 12 months. Since September last year, 95% of their staff have received Welcome to Excellence training, while 30 new staff joining in January 2009 have already been scheduled to start the programme in March 2009 as part of a new induction programme..

Diarmuid McLean, Chief Executive at Account NI said “We had been looking for a customer care programme which would deliver all of our needs. We chose Welcome to Excellence because the design of the course was perfect for us and having a dedicated corporate trainer gave us the flexibility to tailor the programme to suit our business.”
The tourism and hospitality industry was recently encouraged to focus on excellent customer service as NITB hosted its ‘Time to Excel’ training event at the Radisson SAS in Belfast.

NITB first introduced the Welcome to Excellence programmes to the leisure, travel and tourism sector in 1995.  Since then, over 20,000 people have participated in the programmes which are now being re-launched as part of NITB’s plan to focus on the customer experience.

Research shows that high levels of customer service are directly linked to strong customer satisfaction levels which, in turn, produce repeat and recommended business.