TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Tourism (DOT) 8 has started to roll-out of Filipino Brand of Service Excellence (FBSE) training for the current year at the Oriental Hotel de Leyte.
FBSE is one of the flagship programs of the tourism department that aims to provide all front liners in the tourism and hospitality industry with a benchmark on how to render excellent services to tourists and guests the Filipino, making it as the country’s “brand”.
Eastern Visayas is targeting 7,500 individuals this year. On its initial salvo, more than 300 individuals who are working in the hospitality industry including barangay officials from Leyte province were invited to participate in the first round of FBSE training.
This is the first time that the tourism department included barangay officials in the training according to DOT-8 Regional Director Karina Rosa Tiopes.
In the past years, FBSE trainings have been participated by workers in the tourism and hospitality industry. In some instances, personnel from national government agencies and uniformed personnel were also tapped to join the training.
“We have included in the training the barangay chairmen, Sangguniang Kabataan chairmen, and chief tanod members because we believe that in order to fully demonstrate the good customs of Eastern Visayas in dealing with visitors and tourists, it must start in the community,” RD Tiopes explains.
Destinations, sites, and tourism facilities are all located in barangays having community members undergo FBSE training is a way of teaching them relate to tourists and ensure that their areas are safe, clean, and always presentable to visitors and the people are friendly.
“It should be something that the community itself has to show, that is why we want to develop the community culture of service excellence outside of the stakeholders of the tourism industry,” Tiopes added.
FBSE training is very important for the Eastern Visayas due to intensified promotion for making the region one of the choices for MICE (meeting, incentives, conferences, events) destination, and due to the series of major activities this year such as the commemoration of the 80th Leyte Gulf Landings commemoration.
With the inclusion of barangay and SK officials including tanod members, the agency is expecting to reach the target by the end of this year.
At least three FBSE training is planned every week by the department to be conducted in six provinces handled by the pool of trainers accredited by the agency.
The training includes teaching the participant to do the “Mabuhay” gesture, a way of greeting visitors and guests and the “7M” of Filipino values: Maka-Diyos, Makatao, Maka-Kalikasan, Makabansa, Masayahin, May Bayanihan, and May Pag-asa.
“We really want Eastern Visayas to be known as a destination that as soon as the guests arrive at the airport and when they go around and interact with people, they are treated well and happy because they are always greeted with the Mabuhay gesture,” Tiopes said.
Also targeted in the 2024 FBSE training are state universities and colleges and private higher learning institutions that offer courses related to the tourism and hospitality industry.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
