Winter is coming, and I just can’t wait. I don’t mean log fires, mulled wine and snow on the ground – I mean Mr. Jon Snow on our screens! I’ve been looking forward to season seven of Game of Thrones since season six ended! This is just one kind of season I look forward too, closely followed by Spring, Rugby and Pimms season. Seasons are very important to our businesses, adapted from Corluka (2017) Tourism as an integral part of global business and are highly dependent on seasonal changes, economic activities as well as human behaviour and society in general.

Agricultural, Tourism, Hospitality, Sporting and Construction industries all have different peak seasons and the down time is equally as important to manage as the money making time. It’s not an easy task to manage fluctuations and imbalances of weather, guests, staff, stock or equipment. It is more than an art and a career to manage seasonality and all the impacts they have on different parts of your business.

Winter is not a season it’s an occupation – the hospitality industry really looks forward to Christmas when families, friends and business associates gather to celebrate the festive period. We rely on and look forward to serving the guests and we enjoy the busy demands of figuring out the master puzzle of where is the entire matching cutlery gone from last year! It’s a long, hard slog to get everyone served and to keep everyone happy. When the quiet New Year months arrive we can enjoy a hot drink ‘hot’ which is a real novelty. With our hot drink in hand we have time to look at the business and reflect on the successes and potential improvements to be made for next season. We need and rely on this quiet season to plan and conduct training and development, as well as rewriting and reviewing policies, procedures and making organisational changes for future successful seasons. Within the sporting world the best athletes are made during the ‘off season’ and this should be the same for us.

Our industry needs the down-time to reboot, recharge and regenerate and we must use this time wisely. So if this is your quiet season and you are actually waiting for the real winter season and the festive period why not get some training under your aprons! We have developed an online training website where you can choose from 11 modules to complete for free. All you need is an internet connection, there are short quizzes at the end of each module and they are designed around your individual business needs. It only takes a few minutes to register and log on and then you have 11 fantastic modules at your fingertips.  Some of the modules include: – sustainable food and drink tourism, Social media and marketing, Seasonality, quality and training. Anyone can use the system, it is designed around Tourism and the Hospitality industry and is 100% free to register and complete. Use this on line tool to spring forward!  Click here to register and start your free online training today:-  http://smartour.dcnet.eu/

Tonia Barrett, Staffordshire Business School

Reference

Corluka, G. (2017). Seasonality in Tourism- causes, implications and strategies. [online] Available from:- www.academic.edu [Accessed on 17.07.2017]

Useful links

https://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/business/2017/04/10/service-quality-in-tourism-the-road-less-travelled/

Useful links

Project website – http://www.smartourproject.eu/

Twitter @tourismsu   #SMARTOUR

Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/smartourproject/

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