Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 7, 1993 TAG: 9312070270
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Tourism experts agree that first impressions are lasting impressions, and that each smile or helpful, friendly attitude visitors encounter could encourage them to visit again. More important, hospitality awareness might help to boost the number of dollars spent by people who stop in the New River Valley every year.
``Many employees . . . do not connect the dollars and personal service,'' said Charlotte Reed, an economic development specialist in tourism for Virginia Tech's Institute for Governmental Assistance. ``Your attitude and how you personally treat that guest could make a significant difference.''
Travelers spent more than $85 million in the New River Valley in 1990, the latest year for which statistics are available. That figure was actually down by about $1 million from 1988 travel expenditures. Just over half of the money was spent in Montgomery County.
However, in the face of dwindling industrial payrolls, economic development officials want to take another look at the region's untapped tourism potential. Radford's economic development director Jill Barr pulls no punches about the big motivator.``
We want to get those people off the interstate and into our downtown and spending money,'' she said.
``We've got to communicate to everybody the value of tourism,'' said James Lollar, a Radford University marketing professor who is on the marketing committee of New River Valley HOSTS board of directors. To develop the\ industry, he believes, the area's towns and counties must rise above parochial interests and cooperate. ``One way of doing that is to pool your funds,'' he said. ``I don`t know what the reasons could be for not cooperating.''
Lollar also believes that people in hotel, restaurant, gas station and other service industry jobs - those most likely to have first-hand contact with visitors - need to hone their hospitality skills if the industry is to grow.
Posing as a tourist or shopper, one of Lollar's marketing interns tested the tourist attraction ``awareness levels'' of personnel at about 25 locations including local chambers of commerce, restaurants and tourist attractions. By getting responses to an initial inquiry and tourism-related follow-up questions, the telephone survey revealed that the number of people mentioning specific tourist attractions never exceeded 30 percent without further coaching from the ``tourist.''
The survey also indicated that the level of information about area attractions tended to be poor.
``That's why we need the training,'' said Barr, who's also president of New River Valley HOSTS. The Virginia Division of Tourism requires the training as a part of its accreditation program, she said. Barr believes it's especially important to raise the awareness of service-industry staffers that travelers and tourists actually deal with, not just their bosses. She's hoping to see about three dozen key players in class Wednesday.
When they get there, they'll learn not just about the job and dollar impact of tourism to the community, but how to tell visitors where to spend their money and how to get there.
They'll get a glimpse of ``the Joneses,'' a mythical video tourist family, as they might spend a typical day - and their dollars - in the New River Valley.
``Everybody says that it's needed, particularly those in the industry,'' Barr said.
Lollar said he doesn't expect a motel night clerk to become an expert on the Appalachian Trail. But he believes hospitality and travel industry staffers should be able to direct tourists to information they seek, if nothing more.
``We will encourage managers to continue this type of training,'' Barr said.
by CNB