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Service Excellence Will be the Zulu Kingdom's Trump Card

Tourism KwaZulu-Natal rewarded 13 service providers for excellence at a glittering affair held at the Sibaya Casino, as part of their campaign to drive domestic and international arrivals by 1% and 5% respectively, into the province.

Last year at least 13.9 million domestic tourists and 1.2 million foreign tourists visited the Zulu Kingdom, and tourism authorities are determined to grow these figures for the 2005/2006 financial year.

Speaking at the Zulu Kingdom Tourism Service Excellence Awards held at the Sibaya Casino in the North Coast of the Zulu Kingdom, Miller Matola, Tourism KwaZulu-Natal’s Chief Executive Officer said: “The service excellence awards are a tool which we are using in our strategic focus of increasing domestic and international arrivals.

“A quality tourism experience will increase our competitiveness as a destination and in addition to seeing this benefit through increased tourism arrivals and repeat visitors; this could translate into economic opportunities.

Matola said: “Poor service and the quality of an experience, ranging from pricing to customer treatment is a problem experienced across the spectrum of business and is not just a tourism problem. This is why we have launched a campaign that targets service providers across the hospitality and business sectors.

zoom Entertainment at the Zulu Kingdom Service Excellence Awards 2005

“We may have a tourism product that could be the best in the world. However, if our tourists don’t enjoy good service or a quality experience then all our marketing efforts will be in vain and potential tourists will be put- off visiting our province.”

Matola said an improved tourism product or experience resulted in increased arrivals or repeat visits which affects on the success of a tourism destination.

He said this focus on service excellence and providing a quality tourism experience was linked to a provincial appeal to all stakeholders who were directly and indirectly associated with tourism to offer good quality and value for money packages.

“We are intensifying our efforts to ensure that we are a destination of choice for domestic and international tourists and that we are striving to deliver a quality tourism experience.

“Our customer care-line is another very important tool which we believe will help us deliver this experience and it is important for our tourists to realise that they have this facility available to them to report their experiences or express opinions.”

The following finalists received Zulu Kingdom Service Excellence Awards:

1. Accommodation (Three categories) · B&B and guest houses – Teremok Lodge · Lodges and self-catering – Tembe Elephant Lodge · Hotels - The Cavern Drakensberg Resort

2. Tour operating (Two categories) · In business under 5 years – Africa Tours · In business more than 5 years – PMB Heritage Tours 3. Tour Guides In business more than 2 years – Urmilla Singh (Tours of Rememberance) 4. Tourism Information Office · Hibiscus Coast Tourism

5. Tourism Journalist of the year (2 categories) · Print – Barbara Cole · Electronic – Denzyl Janneker

6. Community-based tourism projects · Frank Mchunu – Zulu Mpophomeni Tourism Experience

7. Special Judge's Award for an individual/company having contributed specially to tourism in KwaZulu-Natal · Greg Dardagan (Independent Newspapers)

8. The following were presented with outstanding achievement awards: · Alex Coutts (Alex Educationals) for his contribution to training people in the tourism industry · Siza Hadebe (Olwandle Guest House) for their contribution as an emerging entrepreneur.

zoom Minister Narend Singh

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