Quality Service

Kudos for Good Service

However much tourism bureaux across the world try to improve service standards, it depends on the effort of every provider of tourism services in every related industry – hotels, restaurants, retailers, local tour companies, transportation providers, among others – to make travellers feel well treated in a destination.

The HKTB, therefore, has taken the initiative in helping the tourism trade improve their services. Under the Quality Tourism Services Scheme, the HKTB maintains an extensive network of tourism service providers, including retail shops, restaurants and visitor accommodations, who pledge to offer high-quality service. To give them an extra incentive to keep up their good work, the HKTB set up an award programme in 2011 to recognise and generate publicity for merchants accredited by the scheme, and in 2013, a new award for frontline staff was introduced.

Meanwhile, in November 2013, the HKTB extended its reach to visitors by setting up a concierge hotline to help hotel and shopping mall concierges answer visitors’ questions. With minimum extra resources, this hotline effectively expanded the organisation’s coverage of visitor touch points from its own visitor centres and hotline and email services, to hotels and major shopping malls across the city.