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Ghana Travel Awards; What We Learnt

By Bennet Otoo, Jumia Travel
Travel & Tourism Ghana Travel Awards; What We Learnt
FEB 2, 2018 LISTEN

‘’The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others’’ - Mahatma Gandhi

Customers! They make the company, they make the business. Without them, who else do we work hard for. A lot of times, we give so much to make the customer happy. That ‘’so much’’ is called excellent service. All through the year, various service providers in the travel and hospitality industries go to great lengths just to serve their customers better. In the end, if we make them satisfied, they will come back for more. The results are just overwhelming with higher revenues and profit margins. Sometimes, we lose ourselves in the service of others so much that we forget to acknowledge the very people who make all of these amazing things happen.

The service providers! Last week, Africa’s leading online travel agents Jumia Travel organized the second edition of the Ghana Travel Awards (#JumiaTravelAwards2018) at the Holiday Inn Accra Airport Hotel). The event was a special one with many hotels, airlines and travel websites being nominated and some winning the special awards at the end of the night. The event which was graced by dignitaries from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture & Creative Arts, The Ghana Tourism Authority, The Ghana Tourist Development Company, Corporate Ghana and the media was very successful in the end. A week on, Jumia Travel examines a few lessons learnt from this year’s awards.

1. Government support - Often, we hear of private - public sector collaborations and Government interventions but we hardly see them implemented. Many private industries have cried for the support from government and other regulatory bodies. To get the government, policy makers and regulators working together with private companies is a dream come true. This move was emphasized by the CEO of the Ghana Tourist Development Company, Mr. Kwadwo Odame Antwi during his speech on the awards night. With government already making giant strides in tourism and hospitality development, their support on many other fronts for private companies will only lessen the burden and make this growth and development faster and more impactful.

2. Encourage service providers - Hotels, Airlines, The media and other important service providers were the winners at this years awards. Beyond the plaques and certificates is the encouragement that hard work and excellent service delivery does not go unnoticed. For the winners, it was a moment of Joy and pride to pick up these awards amidst very competitive nominees. For other nominees who did not win, this served as an extra motivation to even do better in the coming year and serve customers with diligence and excellence. Who knows, it may just be them on that platform picking up the awards next year. For every other service provider, this was a wake up call that the industry has become competitive and putting measures in place to stay relevant and business worthy is really the mark.

3. Effective collaboration among stakeholders - For stakeholders, working together is no longer a myth. It is important and beneficial at the same time. Airlines must work together with hotels while the media must work together with everyone involved. Travel agents, policy makers and all other stakeholders must work closely together to ensure that the customers have amazing experiences and get value for their money. The travel and hospitality industry is such that the progress of one stakeholder causes a rippling effect of benefits on many others.

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4. Customer Feedback - A very important lesson we learnt was that customer feedback is really important in this business. The people we serve always have a voice which is louder than any other. The recommendations of one customer is sometimes worth more than hundreds of thousand dollars in marketing. So the big question remains, why don’t we go all lengths to please the customer and ensure that they get value for their money while they enjoy a completely unique experience. In one of the categories, the award was given to the hotel with the best customer ratings on Jumia Travel. This award, ‘’Travelers choice award’’ went to Bays Lodge & Apartment. This hotel got the best customer review score on Jumia Travel in 2017. This means that, when we serve our customers well, they always have good things to say about us which is often what new customers look at before they book. The same applies for airlines.

2017 was an amazing year for Ghana’s travel and hospitality. 2018 will even be better with more and more players in this industry making attempts to provide better services. In the end, the customer goes home happy and business booms for all. Tourism & Hospitality wins while Ghana is the overall beneficiary.

Credit : Bennet Otoo, Jumia Travel

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