Out and about and working for you!

This morning I had the pleasure of swapping my job title for a couple of hours, taking on the role I first carried out when I joined Pembrokeshire Tourism last January. Heading out to Tenby with the necessary paperwork for a membership sign up, I made my way to The Lifeboat Tavern to meet with Ben Jones. He'd given us a call on Monday to enquire about membership with Pembrokeshire Tourism, and so I'd made an appointment to go and see him, to give him a chance to find out more about us, and ask questions, and for me to do the same!

Whenever we are dealing with our members, whether potential or existing, one thing we always try very hard to do is ensure that we listen. During my conversation with Ben, I was able to give him more information about the host of benefits membership brings, from reduced rate card processing, through to training, networking and seminars, and the activity we undertake on a political footing too through lobbying on issues such as business rates. All important stuff, and useful too. What I found most interesting however was getting to hear from Ben about the challenges he faces in his business. 

Sadly he is not alone with his concerns. His instant response to the question was that staffing is his biggest challenge, followed second by seemingly endless 'red tape'. On the staffing side the challenges range from reliability of staff, to honesty and integrity, and a willingness to work and commit to the job in hand. Ben is forward looking, a good number of his staff are full time and employed year round, but he sees many that assume the job is 'a summer job' and as such don't make the effort, as despite him explaining that it doesn't have to be just 'a summer job', the attitudes of many younger people don't match up to what he expects from them.

His comments regarding red tape were also of interest. As he points out, in his sector of the industry, he has a number of different requirements to fulfill, from ensuring correct health and safety practices, to fire assessments and regulations, to environmental health and weights and measures legislation. All of this brings him into contact with a broad range of external organisations and their officers, who at times it seems "are out looking to find fault, rather than offer help".

This first hand information from those in the trade is what makes my job, and the work of Pembrokeshire Tourism, so interesting, varied and I believe, important. If we are not able to meet with our members and ask these questions, and get feedback to tell us what matters, we are not able to deliver the kind of service and support they expect. I was able to tell Ben more about the different types of training we offer, such as customer service training and other skills development courses, and also highlight the good working relationships we have with other organisations who can assist with delivery of health and safety programmes, or arrange support for businesses when they are dealing with other statutory requirements.

I was delighted to welcome Ben as a member with Pembrokeshire Tourism this morning, and indeed being able to do so in person reminded me once again how vital people are in the tourism trade. Whether we are working in a shop, pub, hotel, theme park or cafe, we are providing goods and services to people. People buy from and sell to other people. We are all ambassadors for our businesses, and for the county.

From September, our whole team will be making sure we are out and about, meeting with members, listening to you, talking with you about what matters to you. Once a fortnight we will be in a different location in the county, from 10am to 7pm, and making sure we are working with you and for you as effectively as we can. We will post up our diary dates and locations in the coming weeks, and you can either drop in and see us, or book an appointment if you have something specific you wish to discuss. In the meantime, we are on the phone, on email, and will be at the Pembrokeshire County Show too, so please do get in touch!