Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) will hold four training sessions in four consecutive months to enhance the service quality of tourism and related sectors and promote the Quality Pledge, with the retail sector as the foremost training target. During his speech, Director of MGTO João Manuel Costa Antunes expressed that Macau is developing into a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure and progresses towards diversified development; in order to become an internationally-acclaimed tourist destination, Macau should highly value human resources and regard quality service as a significant factor. At present, Macau tourism industry is rapidly developing. Training becomes essential for the trade to catch up with the growing demand. Representatives of Macau retail and related sectors' associations, leaders of Macau's large retail groups and enterprises as well as operators of small and medium enterprises (SME) attended the "Service Par Excellence for Increasing Profitability" Seminar today. The seminar topic was presented by Mr. Thomas Chow, an experienced tourism sector trainer around the World and Macau, who alerted entrepreneurs on the importance of quality service to increasing profitability during the seminar. Mr. Chow is Managing Director of "Chow & Associates", a management consultancy company founded in 1980, which specializes in providing expertise in corporation and management development, and staff training in different areas and many companies, namely: Hospitality Industry (Hong Kong Hotel Association); Travel & Tourism (assisting the founding of IFT, IATA); Retail Sales Operations (Hong Kong Retail Management Association, BMW Asia); Airlines & Transportation (Thai Airways, Dragonair, Tun Mun Light Railways Corporation, LSG Lufthansa Asia Ltd.); Insurance; Trading/ Manufacturing; among many others. As a management and training consultant Mr. Chow has travelled globally developing activities in Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe and Africa. Retail enterprises' shareholders and executives as well as SME operators were first invited to attend the seminar. Following the seminar, three two-day workshops will be held in October, November and December consecutively to provide professional training for retail shop managers and supervisors. After they master the related information and techniques, they can share with their customer–contact personnel. MGTO highly encourages all retail sector personnel to participate in the workshops actively and equip themselves through training to contribute to Macau tourism industry.
