ABTA?s destination manager, Angie Hills and Ian Greaves from IGI have returned from running a ten day health and safety seminar tour in Turkey?s most popular resorts.
p> ABTA?s destination manager, Angie Hills and Ian Greaves from IGI have returned from running a ten day health and safety seminar tour in Turkey?s most popular resorts. The collaborative project, supported by the Turkish Tourist Office, Ministry for Tourism and Ministry of Transport trained 500 hotel managers, food and beverage managers, transport companies and local authority personnel over ten seminars in the resorts of Antalya, Fetihye, Bodrum, Marmaris and Kusadasi between 13 and 23 May 2011.
Seminars on hotel health and safety were run separately from transport seminars and all were simultaneously translated into Turkish. Both sets of delegates were also provided with copies of presentations and training materials in Turkish to help them train their teams and other staff to ensure that best practice is spread as widely as possible. Hotel personnel were trained in the areas of Food & Water, Swimming Pool Safety, Accommodation Safety, Fire Safety, Security & Incident Management.Transport delegates were taken through a new Transportation Code of Practice covering issues including vehicle quality, the selection of drivers, service maintenance, driver hours and emergency procedures.Delegates were taken through a desk top assessment so that systems used by transport companies can be tested and safety monitored effectively.
Hills said: ?We are very grateful for the support of the Turkish Government for our seminar programme, as it demonstrates the commitment Turkey has to ensure that their tourism products are of high standards. By promoting good practice, seminars such as these will help to ensure that holidaymakers from all over the world will get a great holiday in Turkish resorts.?
Mr Tolga Tuyluoglu director of the Turkish Culture and Tourism Office said: ?We were very excited to work with ABTA on this programme to raise awareness and increase understanding of health and safety issues in the Turkish tourism industry and we would also like to take the opportunity to thank the Hoteliers Association which helped us organise the events. We look forward to continuing the co-operation in the future.?
As well as designing and delivering health and safety seminar programmes, ABTA?s Destination team has produced a range of material for companies with responsibilities for health and safety in overseas destinations ? for example, ABTA?s Preferred Code of Practice ? Health & Safety and ABTA?s modular training DVD Safe and Sound.
Both are available to purchase from ABTA email destinations@abta.co.uk to find out more.
