By Jessica M. Bacud
TUAO, Cagayan — The Department of Tourism, Region 2 conducted a Community-Based Tourism Kulinarya Workshop with Filipino Brand of Service Excellence (FBSE) for Southwest Cagayan from August 22-24 here.
Tuao Mayor William N. Mamba expressed his earnest gratitude to the Department of Tourism for having chosen the Municipality of Tuao as the venue for the workshop.
The chief executive cited to the participants, “This undertaking will enhance and improve your culinary knowledge and skills.”
“It provides ideas and hands-on experience in specific areas related to food preparation, food presentation, and food appreciation. It will not just give you the prerequisite of cooking skills but also help you set realistic goals and a kick start to a culinary career,” Mamba said.
The three-day workshop was attended by 29 participants from the Municipalities of Rizal, Santo Niño, Solana, and Tuao and facilitated by the DOT-Accredited Resource Speaker for Kulinarya, Chef Jose Ramlo P. Villaluna, and FBSE Regional Trainer, Ms. Gretchen A. Jallorina.
The Tourism Situationer for Cagayan Province and Cagayan Valley Region was also presented by Ms. Salud Vitug and Mr. Romeo Caranguian, Jr., respectively.
The mayor encouraged the participants to share their learnings with their respective community members to help improve the tourism industry in Southwest Cagayan as it increases cultural awareness.
The three-day workshop aimed at enhancing the skills of various community-based tourism workers to improve food service while establishing and maintaining good customer relationships.
Also, it aimed to develop and sustain a tourism workforce capable of providing excellent quality services of globally-competitive standards to tourists and visitors traveling to and around the country.
During the Kulinarya workshop, the participants were taught about food safety and handling, food business budgeting, food preparation, and presentation. A hands-on cooking demonstration was also conducted where the participants were able to showcase local cuisine and dishes in their municipality.
Day three of the workshop focused on the 7Ms of Filipino Values, delivering excellent customer service using the G.U.E.S.T. Technique.
It stands for Greet and engage your guest, Understand their Needs, Educate them and offer assistance, Satisfy and surpass their needs and Thank the guest.
Effective techniques to handle customer complaints were also presented through the H.E.A.R.T. Method which means Hear them out, Empathize, Apologize, Resolve the concern and Thank the guest.
The FBSE Program promotes the best qualities and positive values of Filipino hospitality. It is envisioned to enhance and uplift the quality of tourism services in the country aimed at fostering excellent service to tourists as part of our distinct Filipino brand.
Excellence in service becomes a regional brand and a holistic national identity as the tourism program aims to instill a culture of service excellence among tourism stakeholders across the country and raise the quality-of-service standards among the workforce in key tourism and service sectors.
The Local Government Unit of Tuao showed its unwavering support to the Department of Tourism Region 02 during the conduct of the Community Based Tourism Kulinarya Workshop with Filipino Brand of Service Excellence.
