‘Getting Games Ready’: free business training for 2022

17th January 2022

A new training programme has been released ahead of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, offering 7,000 free places to help West Midlands tourism businesses prepare to deliver an unrivalled visitor experience at every point.

It’s expected that 2.5 million people will engage with the Birmingham 2022 Festival this summer, with a further 1.2 million people experiencing the Games themselves. This will undoubtedly put the West Midlands on the global stage.

Local businesses that deliver a world-class experience stand to gain from positive reviews, repeat custom and increased sales. To equip them with the appropriate skills and knowledge to create positive experiences and set the West Midlands apart as a destination, up to 7,000 visitor-facing employees from tourism businesses across the region can take part in the ‘Getting Games Ready’ training programme for free.

The training uses the foundations of the globally recognised WorldHost customer service programme, which has been used to train hundreds of thousands of people for events including the London 2012 Olympics, Rugby World Cup 2015 and the Golf Open 2019.

The Getting Games Ready programme will help participants to:

• Highlight the very best of West Midlands destinations
• Provide a warm, knowledgeable, and inclusive welcome
• Share tips about Birmingham 2022 and the Birmingham 2022 Festival
• Provide up-to-date, accurate and accessible information to visitors
• Promote the West Midlands as a place to visit, stay, and invest in.

‘Encouraging people to return’

Andrew Lovett OBE, Chair of the West Midlands Regional Board for Tourism, said: “The Getting Games Ready programme is an important – and free – tool for local businesses to access ahead of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, allowing visitor-facing staff to enhance customer service skills and local knowledge of the West Midlands.

“This training will ensure that the experiences of visitors to Birmingham and the West Midlands are positive and memorable, encouraging people to return and enjoy our region’s great visitor attractions and world-class hospitality time and again.”

The project is being delivered as part of the Business and Tourism Programme, a three-year initiative which aims to leverage the profile of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games to, among other objectives, attract more international and domestic tourists and additional major events to the West Midlands and wider UK.

‘What an opportunity’

Sandwell Business Ambassador Jan Denning is passionate about hospitality and tourism in our region. She said: “The Getting Games Ready training programme will provide a critical upskilling opportunity as Sandwell and the wider West Midlands region prepare to welcome an influx of visitors throughout 2022.

“We’re excited for local businesses to have access to this training and encourage them to register and take advantage of the free places on offer. What an opportunity for our region, bringing experience and learnings that will last long after the Games”.

To demonstrate their commitment to customer service excellence, businesses that train more than 80 per cent of front-line staff using the programme will also be eligible to apply for Getting Games Ready Business Recognition.

The programme is easily accessible via e-learning on most internet-enabled devices, taking approximately three hours to complete.

The training is available now and tourism businesses can secure free places for their employees by visiting welcomewm.com.