Tourism as an Economic Development Tool

Worked with the Wednesday Morning Workgroup to plan and promote a round table on creating an Eco-tourism Business. The presenters came from Santa Fe and had not been to this area of the state. A tour and luncheon for the group from Santa Fe was planned. The speakers included the NM Tourism Department Cabinet Secretary and Under Secretary and a support staff person and three people from the NM Eco-tourism contract company. The morning tour was enjoyed by all and it was hard to get the group to leave one attraction and move to the next.

The training from the Eco-tourism staff was well prepared and offered some excellent ideas, but the round table by the tourism administration was not well run and discouraged some participants. The presentation did get some people thinking about what could be done here. It was a good start and hopefully we will be able to develop some activities in the future. Thirteen community members attended the round table

Pulled together a committee to offer customer service trainings for management and front-line staff. Two workshops for managers and supervisors were held. They were taught by Quality New Mexico and they focused on total quality management and how to improve the quality of your service with examples. Twenty-one people attended the workshop. The evaluations showed that they learned a few things, but those who were just supervisors felt that they were in the wrong workshop because they did not have the authority to make changes in how their business was run. Those who were business owners felt they learned a lot.

The workshop for frontline employees was held 3 times in two locations. Forty-six employees attended. There were three speakers. One of the local motel owners presented information on local areas of interest and showed a video. The director of our visitors’ center talked about quality customer service with examples. Home Economist showed the fish video and led the group in a discussion of how to implement the 4 philosophies of the fish program. Participants also learned tips and techniques for dealing with difficult customers. Evaluations of the frontline employee workshops showed 87% enjoyed the workshop and 92% learned something they can use to make their day at work better. 90% have a plan to improve their work habits and 81% learned about things they can direct customer to do around our area. 93% felt they were better able to deal with a difficult customer and 74% learned where the two visitors’ centers are in our county.

The Socorro Tourism Council is a network of business and tourism folks that have found value in attending the council. Through this network the council has been able to promote a collaboration of events to market in magazines and tourist brochures extending everyone’s advertising dollars and gaining an increase in the number of ads being bought. There is no clear data as to the increase in tourism, but lodger’s tax money has increased by 2% the last few years.

Four Hospitality trainings were conducted this year. Hospitality trainings are conducted in coordination with the Socorro Tourism Council and the Socorro Chamber of Commerce trying to provide individuals knowledge in what the community has to offer folks traveling through. Restaurant, hotel, gas station and anyone with a business is encourage to send staff that have contact with people passing through. The program focuses on hospitality, but also provides information on what there is to do around Socorro County. Participants have expressed a great enthusiasm for the program and often leave saying “I lived here all my life and I didn’t know about that”. Through these trainings we are able to increase the tourism dollars coming into our community by having repeat tourist.

In collaboration with the Tourism Council and the Socorro Chamber of Commerce, the Agent instructs the Hospitality and Tourism courses quarterly for hotel, restaurants, and gas station attendants. The training focuses on actual attractions and events that occur in Socorro County. Participants are often locals that have no ideal of all the attractions in the area, and leave wanting to go see the places talked about. Attendees provided so much feed that a second course is now being offered. 100% of attendees feel that they have gained valuable knowledge to help them in their employment.

Socorro County has an active tourism council that meets to network with individuals from across the county on events and activities that are associated with Socorro County. This outlet for communication has lead to the use of a unified calendar of events, and brought in 1 grant this year from the Department of Tourism for $20,000. Individuals collaborate within this group to advertise Socorro County and minimize the advertising cost for one individual allowing for more ads to be placed.