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BackJuly 13, 2010
Management Team Members of the Plano Convention & Visitors Bureau and Plano Centre Become Certified Tourism Ambassadors
The management team of the Plano Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) and Plano Centre, along with representatives from the city of Plano and the Plano hospitality community, recently completed training through a national hospitality program, earning members the designation of Certified Tourism Ambassador (CTA). Accredited and licensed through the Tourism Ambassador Institute™, the Certified Tourism Ambassador™ (CTA) Program is a certification program that goes well beyond basic customer service training. It is designed as a lasting program that mobilizes a destination's front line toward the goal of turning every visitor encounter into a positive experience.
More than 1,200 have received the CTA designation since the program came to North Texas in 2009, and join more than 7,000 CTAs nationally who have completed the program since its inception in 2006. The North Texas version of the national Tourism Ambassador Institute program is offered through the Dallas-Fort Worth Area Tourism Council (DFWATC), an accredited provider.
"We hope that other area officials and tourism partners will complete the CTA program, as well as volunteers helping at our attractions," said Mark W. Thompson, director of the Plano Convention & Visitors Bureau. "Travel and tourism generate roughly $18 billion in economic impact to our area annually, so the more people who understand how to help visitors in our area, the better."
The CTA Program reinforces their current training and builds upon it with a rich, customized curriculum that is designed to build employees' knowledge about North Texas and their pride for living and working here.
Employers of all sizes and industry segment are enjoying the program's many benefits.
"The hospitality industry involves more people than most realize," Thompson explained. “After all, one in eight non-farm jobs are related to the hospitality industry. This includes not only hotel and lodging partners, but also those working in restaurants, as tour guides, attraction employees and anyone involved in transportation. The hospitality business is huge in this area, as the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the No. 1 tourism destination in the state of Texas.”
The CTA Program is a natural fit to help Plano achieve a myriad of objectives, including uniting front-line employees and volunteers, increasing overall convention and tourism business, increasing the economic impact of tourism and building a positive image of Plano and the Metroplex as a leisure destination.
This hospitality program is an ongoing one, as CTAs work to accrue credits by attending events, visiting attractions and completing other educational tasks to renew their CTA status each year.
Any organization, business or individual in the Plano area who would like more information about the CTA program should contact Tourism Ambassador Institute at www.CTANetwork.com.
City of Plano employees who received their certification included:
Faye Jahanguiri
Robert Whitley
Jacqueline Vargas
Wendi Bates
Terry Beck
Kristie Cover
Linda Dixon
Karen Jenkins
Collin Kennedy
Delores Murray
Phyllis Reese
Deborah Stone
Jo Rivers
Claudia Robbins
Robert Whitley
Karen Fogle
Kay Summerville
Melanie Copeland
Janet Glance
Kay Summerville
Karen Fogle
Jennifer Hyde
Mark Thompson
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