ABTA’s Destination Manager, Angie Hills, Donna Boucher ABTA Destination Services coordinator and Health & Safety expert Ian Greaves from IGI have returned from running a ten day health and safety seminar tour in Turkey’s most popular resorts.

The collaborative project, supported by the Turkish Tourist Office, Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Transport trained 500 hotel managers, food and beverage managers, transport companies and local authority personnel over ten seminars in the resorts of Antalya, Fethiye, Bodrum, Marmaris and Kusadasi between 13 and 23 May 2011.

The project involved delivering five seminars on accommodation health and safety and five transport seminars, all of which were simultaneously translated into Turkish.  The delegates were provided with copies of presentation material; and the FTO codes of practice in Turkish to encourage further training to be cascaded amongst accommodation and transportation staff and help their teams and other staff to ensure that best practice is spread as widely as possible. 

Hotel personnel were trained in the areas of Food & Water, Swimming Pool Safety, Accommodation Safety, Fire Safety, and Security & Incident Management.

Transport delegates were taken through a new Transportation Code of Practice covering issues including vehicle quality, the selection of drivers, service maintenance, driver hours and emergency procedures. Delegates were taken through a desk top assessment so that systems used by transport companies can be tested and safety monitored effectively.

Angie Hills, ABTA’s Destination Manager said: “We are very grateful for the support of the Turkish Authorities for our seminar programme, as it demonstrates the commitment Turkey has to ensure that their tourism products are of high standards. By promoting good practice, seminars such as these will help to ensure that holidaymakers from all over the world will get a great holiday in Turkish resorts.”

On behalf of Members, ABTA works proactively with hoteliers, suppliers, destination municipalities and Governments around the world to improve Public health, infrastructure, and safety of the environment, which is beneficial for both customers and local populations

As well as designing and delivering health and safety seminar programmes, ABTA’s Destination team has produced a range of useful material for companies with responsibilities for health and safety in overseas destinations – for example, ABTA’s Preferred Code of Practice – Health & Safety and ABTA’s modular training DVD Safe and Sound. Both are available to purchase from ABTA email [email protected] to find out more.