UEFA European Football Championship EURO 2012 will kick off in about 8 months. The impression of fans and tourists, who are going to visit Poland, and thus, the image of the country abroad, will be mainly determined by the quality of guest services. The new Euro Academy is to educate local tourism stakeholders.
A new project called Euro Academy was launched in Poland in August. The aim of the project co-funded by the European Union is to ensure high level of services provided to tourists during the championship.
Participants are being trained in communication in English, educated about intercultural differences, professional customer service, as well as tourism attractions in the region. The project is free for the participants and so far it has drawn great attention of Polish travel professionals.
Currently, almost 1,000 people have joined the course in the provinces of Mazovia, Pomerania, Wielkopolska and Silesia where the project was launched, reported Tur-info.pl. Overall the project is expected to train about 2,500 people until April 2012 when the courses end.
According to Monika Jakubiak, the Academy Head of Strategy, the great interest in the project confirms the need for this type of training among Polish travel industry stakeholders, not only for the upcoming championship. “The Academy offers quality development of professional skills of the participants, which will be useful not only during Euro 2012, but also in their future career,” said Mrs. Jakubiak.
The Academy was designed specifically for people who are supposed to work at the so-called ‘communication route’ during the Euro 2012. These are primarily employees of ticket offices at railway stations and airports, hotel and restaurant staff, tourist information officers, guards etc.
“The training at the Academy is organized in a very professional way. Even now the course is very helpful in my daily work,” said Tadeusz Michalowski, Chief of Municipal Police Department in Wroclaw, one of the participants in Lower Silesia. “What is particularly valuable and interesting for me is the topic of intercultural differences and professional customer service,” added the officer.