New road signs welcoming visitors into Bishop Auckland announce the town’s status as a WorldHost Destination.
The signs celebrate the landmark achievement of becoming the first town in the region to achieve the prestigious award. Bishop Auckland was awarded WorldHost Recognised Destination status following a training initiative delivered by The Auckland Project and Durham County Council.
The signs were funded by Cllr Joy Allen, Durham County Council’s Cabinet member for transformation, culture and tourism, and Cllr John Lethbridge and Cllr Tucker, both representatives for the Woodhouse Close division, who pooled their Bishop Auckland and Shildon Area Action Partnership (AAP) Neighbourhood Budgets.
An internationally renowned programme, WorldHost aims to raise excellence in customer service, used for world stage events including the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
To attain the accolade, 286 employees from 22 local businesses in Bishop Auckland completed a training course, gaining new skills to deliver a warm and friendly welcome to all visitors. To become a WorldHost Recognised Business, 50 per cent of frontline employees at each of the 22 businesses had to complete WorldHost customer service training programmes.
Cllr Joy Allen has previously part funded the delivery of the town training programme with AAP Neighbourhood Budget to show her support.
Cllr Joy Allen, who has also completed the training herself, said: “It was a real coup for the County to secure the first WorldHost destination accolade in the region, and these new road signs highlight this tremendous achievement. I hope that other towns and villages now want to emulate Bishop Auckland’s success.
“The award demonstrates what can be achieved when everyone in a town comes together to support the tourism agenda. Providing the highest levels of customer service has an invaluable impact on the economy, ensuring visitors return time and again and cements the town and county’s reputation as a top-class visitor destination.”
Nigel Bryson, Chair of Bishop Auckland Town Team, said: “Achieving WorldHost Recognised Destination status means that Bishop Auckland is internationally recognised as a great place to visit. Making this clear on the main signs into Bishop Auckland helps promote our town and supports the regeneration efforts the Town Team are making, along with many other organisations.”
Michelle Gorman, managing director at Visit County Durham, said: “The WorldHost welcome is not only a fantastic achievement for the market town of Bishop Auckland, but for the county as a whole. Offering a visitor experience that matches or exceeds the best offered by England’s premier county destinations is a key priority for us, and accolades like this help us to differentiate what makes Durham unique, and that is our exceptionally warm North East welcome.”
Louise Costello, Learning and Experience Manager at The Auckland Project, which delivered the WorldHost training, said: “We are already drawing visitors into Bishop Auckland and expect to see those numbers increase in the coming years with The Auckland Project visitor destination and other developments in the town.
“The experience those visitors have across the town, from leisure, transport, hospitality or retail businesses, can hugely impact whether they return to the area or recommend it to friends and family and it’s great to see everyone coming together to make that experience as positive as possible.”
The recognition status has been awarded by skills and quality assurance expert, People 1st International, which has seen over 320,000 people, 5000 businesses and 18 regions benefit from WorldHost training, representing an industry investment of more than £30 million in improving the quality of customer experience.
Jane Rexworthy, Executive Director at People 1st International said: “Becoming a WorldHost Recognised Destination is a fantastic achievement and it’s incredibly encouraging to see so many businesses willing to go the extra mile for their customers.”
