PICTURE CAPTION: (From left to right) Petra Wetzel, founder of WEST Brewery, is pictured alongside Tara Gibson from Glasgow Science Centre; Christina McGonigle and Kerry McNally from the Scottish Event Campus, and Craig Martin, Chair of Glasgow Welcomes.

 

Two of Glasgow’s leading venues have been crowned the winners of a new award recognising exceptional customer service across the city’s tourism and hospitality industry.

The Glasgow Science Centre (GSC) and the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) are the first ever award recipients through Glasgow Welcomes’ Business Recognition Programme.

Launched last October, the initiative is geared at rewarding Glasgow businesses, large and small, which consistently go the extra mile to improve the city’s visitor experience.

Glasgow Science Centre was recognised for its commitment to accessibility and supporting visitors with additional needs; particularly adults and children with autism. More than 100 staff have completed autism awareness training, while the centre’s Autism Friendly Hours initiative ensures families can explore the space and participate in activities in a suitable environment.

Autism-friendly sessions run on selected Sundays from 9-11am and include tailored workshops, reduced sound and lighting on all floors of the centre, dedicated quiet spaces and the provision of sensory items, including weighted blankets and ear defenders.

Introduced in March 2018, the centre has welcomed more than 2,000 people to Autism Friendly Hours, however, Gerry McCann, Customer Experience Manager at GSC, says the success of the programme can’t only be measured by the number of people coming through their doors.

Gerry said: “That would be counterproductive to our aim. We look for feedback from visiting families that they’ve had a successful outing; that we’ve achieved a relaxed environment and that their visit has had a positive impact on their children.

“We want a visit to Glasgow Science Centre to be an enjoyable experience with as few barriers as possible. As a team we’re working hard to ensure GSC is inclusive to all.

“We’re proud of our Autism Friendly Hours and Deaf Science Club projects, and we’re delighted to be one of the first winners of Glasgow Welcomes’ Business Recognition Award. We’ll keep listening to our customers and ensure that our staff receive the best training possible to support all of our visitors.”

Meanwhile, the SEC received its award for the venue’s efforts in providing a safe and supportive space for visiting conference delegates who attended three of the world’s largest medical meetings in 2018.

Glasgow is an internationally recognised conference destination and business tourism contributes significantly to the city’s visitor economy. Hosting more than 500 conferences each year worth upwards of £130m, the majority of large conferences held in the city take place at the SEC.

Last year, the venue welcomed the World Federation of Haemophilia Congress; the World Down Syndrome Congress and the International Symposium on Motor Neuron Disease – which collectively brought 7,000 delegates to the city.

To ensure Glasgow provided a warm and appropriate welcome, Glasgow Convention Bureau partnered with Glasgow Welcomes and VisitScotland to launch the People Make Glasgow Welcome campaign; an initiative offering free educational sessions to the city’s tourism and hospitality industry. Led by experts from each conference, alongside local people living with the conditions, the sessions were aimed at helping frontline staff to better understand delegates’ needs.

More than 90 SEC staff attended these sessions and staff champions ensured the information was cascaded across the wider SEC team. The venue also produced a series of printed information guides for its employees detailing key information about each conference and how best to support visiting delegates. Recognising that some of the conditions would present mobility issues for attendees, the venue operated accessibility buggies throughout each conference to transport visitors around the campus.

Mark Laidlaw, Director of Operations at the SEC, said: “Preparing for what were three very different conferences, where delegates had very specific needs, was a really collaborative effort from all of our staff.

“Our customer experience team went above and beyond to ensure a positive experience for all visitors to our campus and we received feedback that delegates thoroughly enjoyed their time in Glasgow and felt comfortable and looked after throughout their respective meetings.

“We’re really pleased to have won a Glasgow Welcomes Recognition Award, which reflects our staff’s commitment to delivering world-class customer service and to looking at ways of continuously improving our customer journey.”

Both winners received their awards at Glasgow Welcomes’ ‘Champions’ event held at the city’s WEST Brewery yesterday (Tuesday, June 25).

Bringing together 80 managers and leaders from across Glasgow’s tourism and hospitality sector, attendees heard from WEST founder and guest speaker, Petra Wetzel about how she created one of Glasgow’s best-loved brands, becoming a proud “Gerwegian” and the importance of supporting budding entrepreneurs in the city.

Craig Martin, Chair of Glasgow Welcomes and Head of HR at Glasgow Airport, said: “Every day in Glasgow, businesses like the SEC and the Glasgow Science Centre are delivering exceptional visitor experiences and world-class customer service; it’s become the benchmark of our tourism and hospitality industry.

“I’d like to congratulate both of our winners and I hope their success will inspire other city businesses, with similar projects that have real impact and scalability for our sector, to participate in Glasgow Welcomes’ Business Recognition Programme going forward.

“I would also like to thank Petra and all of her team for hosting us. WEST Brewery has become a much-loved Glasgow institution and her passion for the city and our industry is inspiring. I’m sure our delegates also enjoyed sampling WEST’s famous beers!”

ENDS

  

About Glasgow Welcomes

Glasgow Welcomes is an integral element of the Glasgow Tourism and Visitor Plan to 2023; working in partnership with tourism and hospitality businesses to help grow their bottom line and raise service standards across every touch point of the city’s visitor experience.

With a focus on service excellence, leadership, skills, and training and development opportunities for staff at all levels – from frontline teams to senior hospitality managers and leaders – it is a unique industry-led initiative supported by principal funders Scottish Enterprise along with Glasgow Life, VisitScotland and Skills Development Scotland.

Held quarterly, Glasgow Welcomes Champions’ events provide a valuable development opportunity for Glasgow’s tourism industry managers and leaders: encouraging engagement and collaboration between businesses, building relationships, and sharing ideas and best practice across every aspect of the sector in support of the city’s tourism plan.

For more information about Glasgow Welcomes, click hereand follow @GlasgowWelcomeson Twitter.

The Glasgow Welcomes Business Recognition Programme is open to Glasgow businesses of any size which engage directly with tourists and visitors to the city – from accommodation providers, venues and visitor attractions to bars and restaurants, retailers and transport operators.

Businesses can submit more than one project or initiative for recognition through the programme, but it must have been implemented within a 12 month period and demonstrate tangible success. Businesses must also meet certain eligibility criteria, including having participated in Glasgow Welcomes leadership or service excellence training and events. For more information about the Glasgow Welcomes Business Recognition Programme and the next opportunity to participate, click here.

 

About Glasgow’s Tourism and Visitor Plan

Customer service excellence is a priority within Glasgow’s Tourism and Visitor Plan to 2023 – the blueprint for continuing to build the city’s global profile as a vibrant, must-visit tourist destination. Growing overnight tourism visits from two to three million annually and positioning Glasgow as a cultural powerhouse and the gateway to Scotland is at the heart of the plan, which aims to deliver an economic boost of £771m and create 6,600 new jobs in the city over the next five years. For more information about Glasgow’s Tourism and Visitor Plan to 2023, click here and follow @GlasgowTourism on Twitter.

 

For more information, contact:

Craig Martin

Head of HR, Glasgow Airport and Chair, Glasgow Welcomes

 +44 (0) 7884 233 603

[email protected]