On 27 July this year, there will be just two years to go until the London 2012 Olympics kick off. Research by Oxford Economics, commissioned by VisitBritain, has already indicated the Games could bring in £2.1bn in extra revenue for the hospitality industry over the next few years.
But there are hurdles to overcome: will we have enough trained hospitality professionals to cope? Is there enough hotel capacity for the influx of tourists? How will supply chains cope with a sudden balloon in demand?
What's your view - based on how we are doing at the moment, is the British hospitality sector on course to be a gold medallist, or a Fosbury Flop?
I think we need a real push on training to ensure there really is the big smile and great welcome for tourists. This is a real chance for the hospitality industry to shine but i'm not sure we're ready.
Having said that, it's easy to knock them but if there's one thing McDonalds know about it's service with a smile and consistency so if they're training 70,000 volunteers that will go some way to plugging the gap.
The scale of the Olympics is enormous! 70,000 volunteers?! How many tourists are we expecting? Does the McDonald's training form part of the sponsorship deal?
Yep, 70,000 volunteers. Or Games Makers as Lord Coe (and for some reason Alesha Dixon) say in this video:
watch a london 2012 games maker film.php
If you want to, here's how you get involved.
do you think they will be able to find 70,000 volunteers that will do the UK Proud ?
I say they would definately be able to find 70k volunteers, I'm definately volunteering, I can't wait :-)P.S. I've just read an interesting article on the Olympics in this week's Caterer that discusses the tourism gains from the Olympics and whether the industry is ready.
This is a sore point for me: I signed up several years ago to be a volunteer and have heard precisely nothing since. I hope the welcome to people volunteering to help has improved since then ...
Maybe now they'll get in touch... You still game, Mark?
They've got to make the first call ..,
Do you have to be a Londoner to volunteer?
It seems that the 70,000 volunteers will be needed. We've discovered that 63% of hospitality businesses won't do anything to prepare for the Olympics. Will the hospitality industry cope? http://bit.ly/sO85Yl
1) although I appreciate that some people might enjoy feeling part of the Olympics by volunteering, i don't see why I should volunteer when everyone is making money out of the Olympics frmo sponsors to businesses to organisers. Not even mentioning the money spent on hosting authorities at the Dorchester & other 5 star hotels. I'd much rather volunteer for other causes. (end of rant)
2) yes we will cope with the olympics, many hotels are already fully booked, most venues involved in the olympics have already recruited or booked extra staff and casual agencies such as off to work are already looking at doubling their workers pool. At the last hotel I was working for we used to joke that in fashion they prepare 6 months in advance whereas in hospitality we are always 1 day behind.
Neil was absolutely on the button in his July 2010 item.......now we are in January 2012 are we better prepared?
A previous correspondent mentioned McDonalds - they are embedding a customer service training approach ( WorldHost) in their training - take a look at WorldHost - tried and tested at the Vancouver Winter Olympics by one of the world's best customer service nations - Canada.
People 1st have brought WorldHost to the UK and the numbers of trainers is growing by the day.......take a look at http://www.worldhost.uk.com/