Lake County’s Certified Tourism Ambassador Program is shifting back into high gear with three classes scheduled for the beginning of 2016, enabling those in the tourism profession to make a new year resolution to become better informed about this incredible destination.
The Certified Tourism Ambassador™ program is part of a national network of programs designed to train individuals who are likely to come into contact with visitors in Lake County on some of the incredible history, beauty and vacation opportunities there are in this area. The County’s Board of Supervisors saw the value of this program and have authorized 200 private-sector classes be available at no charge. In addition, there will be 200 seats for those in Lake County’s government paid for as well.
“Our goal is to help our community create the best possible experience for visitors to our region,” said Jill Ruzicka, who is heading up the CTA program for the County. “It’s not only about instilling customer service best practices, but also about seeing the positive attributes that Lake County has to offer and being able to then clearly communicate those qualities to those that choose to come spend time here.”
The program is specifically targeted to individuals who deal with visitors to Lake County. This could be servers, hotel team members, business owners, bus and taxi drivers, winery team members or any other individual whose work day brings them into contact with tourists. The goal of the program is to get all “front line employees” to become Certified Tourism Ambassadors which has been done in other destinations such as Anaheim, Dallas, San Diego and almost 70 other destinations. This national certification can be proudly displayed by the attendee and has been a factor in getting better jobs in other destinations.
The program also offers discounts to those who are Certified and local businesses are encouraged to experience the power of this program. Offering a special deal or bonus to those with the CTA certification gives them a chance to experience your business which means they’ll have that experience in mind when making recommendations to visitors of the area.
Individuals who wish to earn their Certification or businesses who wish to offer specials to CTAs have a common destination — www.ctanetwork.com Those who wish to earn their credentials can click on the “Become a CTA” tab at the top of the site; businesses who wish to offer discounts and freebies can click the link in center of the right column of the page under the “Employers” headline.
