Gallu Newsletter

Issue 3

April 2005

Welcome Note

Hello to you all,

By now you are probably in the throes of getting all geared up to embrace the summer season. I know that the businesses who have been on Gallu workshops have benefited from them and the new skills and knowledge that have been given will prove effective and even profitable over the coming busy month. Have a look at our courses to date section see if you can spot yourself!

With the busy season getting closer there are just a few weeks left for Gallu to deliver their open workshops. Since the last newsletter in January we have held over 50 workshops across the region covering various topics. To see what we are offering in your area in the next few weeks please visit our website day or night and book online www.gallu.org.uk and don’t worry were not leaving you in peace for long we’ll be back in September and we’re starting with some fun heritage workshops!

We’ve had a fantastic 3 months providing not just workshops but also crazy PR opportunities with our Buddy Days and the Springboard Careers festival, Quirky Curry and Quiz nights that have included the confiscation of Chain Saws (I’m not mentioning any names) I still can’t believe I was in a pair of wellies!!

I hope you all have a fantastic and profitable summer, if you come up with anything you need help with even in the summer months please let is now, we will do our best for you!

Profitable wishes

Lisa

Lisa Johnston – HRD Co-ordinator for South West Wales and Carmarthenshire Facilitator.

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Training Needs Analysis Results

MIND THE GAP: MATCHING TRAINING PROVISION TO BUSINESS NEED

Dr Claire Haven-Tang, Welsh School of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Management talking to delegates at the West Wales Hospitality Forum.

Mind the Gap is designed to benefit tourism businesses throughout Wales by influencing and shaping learning supply to better meet your needs. The project was carried out between July 2004 and March 2005 in partnership with the Tourism Training Forum for Wales (TTFW) and in conjunction with People 1st, the new Sector Skills Council (SSC) for Hospitality, Leisure, Travel and Tourism.

Why is it important to match training provision with skills demanded by tourism businesses?

To improve professionalism and enhance skills within the sector, it is critically important that businesses are able to access training that meets their specific business needs. To ensure this, training provision for the sector needs to be demand-led. A survey of tourism and related businesses across Wales and data from the Tourism Training Guide (http://www.tourismtrainingguide.co.uk) has enabled Mind the Gap to assess differences between the demand for, and supply of, hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism-related learning opportunities in Wales and in each of its four regions.

What key messages emerged for learning providers and tourism businesses?

Learning provision?

The survey results highlight a mismatch between providers and the requirements of businesses within the sector. In order to effectively meet demand, the supply side need to fundamentally change the way that they operate, particularly in terms of the duration and timings of courses, as well as accreditation issues. Tourism businesses are seeking short courses that meet specific business needs; hence, a flexible qualifications structure which enables achievement over time may be more appropriate.

* Learning provision needs to be customised and packaged in different ways to encourage non-traditional ways of learning, as survey responses indicate that businesses may be reluctant or unable to train off-site.

*Learning provision for immediate and specific business needs should incorporate and enhance the different managerial and operational skills levels across the sector in Wales, ensuring that both further education and higher education needs are met.

Tourism businesses -

* Few businesses have a proactive, structured approach to the identification of training and development needs within the business, with the majority of survey respondents identifying training and development needs on an ad-hoc basis. Therefore, promoting a wider demand for skills must be aligned with improved learning provision for the sector in Wales.

* Raising the profile of the sector in Wales and maintaining a quality tourism product cannot be achieved simply through training employees. Managers, including owner-managers, must be encouraged to develop their skills as employers - whilst many owner-managers possess general business management skills; people management skills may be lacking, which can lead to recruitment and retention problems.

We need your help to match training provision to business need

To ensure that funding is secured for appropriate training to meet the business needs of tourism businesses across Wales, it is critically important that we find out what you need. One very important way of doing this, which provides evidence for key decision-makers, is for individual businesses to complete the Mind the Gap survey on an annual basis. Completing the Mind the Gap survey can be seen as a commitment towards best practice in human resources (HR) and as a HR self-diagnosis for your business. To complete the Mind the Gap survey, please go to: http://whodoiask.com/mindthegapsurvey/mindthegapsurvey.htm.

South West Wales goes Buddy Bananas!

Gary Davies, Strategy Director for South West Wales with Graham Rankin from Aberglasney Gardens

A range of Buddy Days were organised all over South West Wales by the Gallu team in partnership with Springboard Wales on the 8th of March. Councillors, Heads and Leaders of local Councils and Principles and Heads of local Colleges took part in the ‘Buddy Day’ initiative to encourage people to work in the tourism industry and to put tourism at the front of people’s minds.

Gary Davies, Strategy Director for South West Wales swapped his pen for a shovel and spent the day at Aberglasney Gardens. His mission was to plant a rare Acer Tree which had been imported from New Zealand in 1988.

Gary said: “Buddy days are a tremendous initiative for people involved in the tourism industry to share their experiences. It’s important that people who help steer tourism in Wales are aware of the ever day implications of their decisions and by coming here and getting my hands, quite literally dirty, it really gives you an insight into the hard work going on at our many excellent tourism attractions.

Sarah Veck, Head of Economic Development at Carmarthenshire County Council who spent the day at 5 Saints Riding Centre in Pumpsaint : “It was great to get people involved in tourism to have hands on experience and to see how much work actually takes place behind the scenes. This has been a fantastic experience!”

Courses & Seminars run to date in 2005

A range of Seminars/Courses and Trade Days have been organised in South West Wales in 2005 !

Below are a few pictures to show you all the fun the trade are having!

Trade Day at Folly Farm

Beating Seasonality Trip in Pembrokeshire

WTB Roadshow at Dylan Thomas Centre Swansea – Gallu Workshop led by Marianne Pettifor, Frog more Consulting, Swansea

Trade Day at Castell Henllys, Pembrokeshire

Breakfast Show at Tudor Lodge, Jameston.

Fire and Safety Training

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A Taster of the Courses coming up!

‘Gallu’ have been arranging a range of courses/seminars and trade days for 2005.

Below are a few which have been arranged for the coming weeks…..

Why not try and learn some French or German this Spring!

Pembrokeshire gets a good share of Wales’ French and German speaking visitors – make them more comfortable and more likely to stay again using their first language. Learn something about why the expectations of French and German visitors might be different.

Gallu in partnership with Pontio Ewrop Cyf are offering short “taster” courses (only two hours) in French and German to give you an introduction to these widely used European languages. You can be an absolute beginner - or you may want to brush up that GCSE . There are 5 courses in total running for 2 hours a week for 5 weeks and located in venues in the north and the south of Pembrokeshire!

Marketing Workshops!

Get up to tip top shape with you marketing knowledge! A range of marketing workshops have been organised in Swansea Bay, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire to help tourism businesses with their marketing, covering areas such as their literature and their business!

The following marketing workshops have been arranged during April and May in all the above areas.

Evaluate your marketing material – Is it Working?
Marketing Yourself?
How to design an effective advert and leaflet to attract your target market?

To find out the dates of these workshops near you visit www.gallu.org.uk or contact your local Gallu Facilitator. Book now as places are limited!

Housekeeping – Practical Session

Would you like to send your housekeeping staff on a refresher course to help them be more efficient when cleaning and also to learn new techniques? If you do then this is the course for you! Gallu will be setting up these practical sessions at the end of May just before the season kicks off to ensure your staff are in tip top shape!

For more information about the above and other courses organised by Gallu visit www.gallu.org.uk or contact your area facilitator.

‘GALLU’ Competition

Can you guess where this picture has been taken?