Benguela – Tourism specialist João Calete defended, this Saturday, the need for public investment in the training of hotel service professionals in the province of Benguela, with a view to customer satisfaction.
In an interview with ANGOP, the specialist admitted that the training of hotel professionals is still a concern , this is because Benguela is the second largest hotel and tourist chain, after Luanda.
To give you an idea, João Calete, who is also head of the Provincial Department of Tourism in Benguela, reveals that the sector The hotel industry employs around six thousand workers and most of them need training.
“Benguela has around six thousand workers, from hotels to small and medium-sized companies: taverns and snack bars”, he pointed out.
And he attests: “Every day, we have an open bar. A snack bar to license.
And there are usually three to four workers.”
This is why it is considered a paradox that the province of Benguela, with all this potential, does not yet have a public school. dedicated to training in hospitality and tourism.
Urgent need Although there is the Technical Institute of Hospitality and Tourism “BG1125 Laura Vicuña”, belonging to the Salesian Sisters, of the Catholic Church, João Calete reinforces the idea that Government intervention is important, from the perspective of creating a professional school.
In his understanding, Benguela lacks a public school to train staff in courses such as hotel management, pastry, table service, bartender, among others.
“Because, the more trained staff we have, the more capacity we will have to attract tourists to Benguela”, he suggested, noting that a three to four star hotel must have at least 15 to 20 percent of its employees trained.
Otherwise, he warns, the units will not be able to offer a good service to guests who have chosen Benguela as their destination favorite tourist.
Improve quality Regarding the level of quality of services provided, the person responsible for Tourism in Benguela considers it reasonable, justifying that many Professionals do not have adequate training, hence the lack of excellence in service.
Until 2010, there were many expatriate hotel managers in Benguela, but today the situation has completely changed, as suggested the source.
But nowadays, according to the source, all hotel directors in the province of Benguela are Angolan, which is already very good, if compared to the past.
“We are also already having an acceptable level of service, but we need more training.
For example, itinerant courses”, recognized.
And the biggest deficit is in table service, with João Calete disapproving the practice of placing newly hired people at immediately serve tables, without the slightest knowledge of the rules when dealing with increasingly demanding customers.
“Usually, after being admitted, people are immediately put to work at tables”, he criticizes.
In fact, he said, to serve the customer, there are rules that the waiter must observe, namely whether he goes to the right or to the left and what word should you say.
“Because they say that the first impression is what sells. Otherwise, the customer won’t come back”, he stressed, for whom the waiter must be an affable person who expresses themselves verbally and physically with ethics and deontology, without creating embarrassment.
Second tourist park in the country The second tourist destination in Angola, after Luanda, the province of Benguela has more than 32 hotels, one hundred guesthouses and guesthouses, in addition to many inns and complementary accommodation enterprises, known as lodges and resorts.
In terms of visits, during this year, the province received approximately thirty thousand tourists, including residents (75 percent) and travelers from other countries, compared to thirteen thousand in 2023.
Contrary to what happened in the past, when Portuguese tourists dominated local tourism, today South Africa is the main source of foreign tourists for the province of Benguela. JH/CRB
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