I was delighted to be one of the people representing Louth at an international tourism workshop in Belgium hosted by Failte Ireland at the Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe last week. The workshop was open to members of Failte Ireland's Tourism Learning Network which has been in operation for the past three years. It's objective is to help small enterprises in the tourism sector to improve their business performance through a combination of traning and networking activities.
The participants at the workshop were drawn from as far afield as Monaghan, Donegal, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Kerry and Tipperary. They represented all aspects of the tourism industry from crafts, music and heritage, to accommodation, restaurants and outdoor activities.
The centrepiece of the event was a full day workshop by Klaus Kobjoll, from the renowned Schindlerhof hotel near Nuremburg. The hotel grew from humble beginnings starting out as a 400 year old barn in 1988 to a modern 4 star establisnment today. It has been a winner of the European Quality Award and is consistently listed as one of the best places to work in Germany. Mr. Kobjoll is renowned for his unconventional approach to business which focuses on maximising quality, intense customer care and employee empowerment.
The theme of his workshop was "Managing in turbulent times" . The tone of the day was upbeat as he pointed out to us ways in which we could manage and develop our tourism businesses in order to ride out the present difficult trading environment.
The overall feeling from everyone present was that although times may be tough in 2009 there is every reason to be optimistic if we run our enterprises effectively, maximise the experience for our customers and continue to be innovative.
The pictures above show me with Klaus while the other has me with Martin Donohoe from the Nyah Traditional Music Festival in Cavan and Betty Quinn from Millmount Museum in Drogheda.
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