Tourism Expo



My lovely assistant Shegundala and I attended the first Gulf County Tourism Show today.  I'm pretty sure we were the only people in the room who didn't win a door prize, but hey, lunch was free and from one of the best restaurants in town, Provisions.  The selection of salads, sandwiches, cookies and assortment of fat free pound cakes was what I've come to expect from Provisions.  Exceptional.  The pound cake which was presented in a half dozen different flavors was incredibly moist and rich.  I spoke with the creator of these treats and she told me she makes them with fat free yogurt.  Forget about getting the recipe, it's probably locked in a vault.

But, I digress.  The real purpose of the event was to promote to the business owners and front line employees all of the diverse activities available in the immediate area and how to communicate our diversity to current and potential visitors.  Informational booths included fishing charters, beach weddings, kayaking, scuba diving tours and instruction, the Cape San Blas lighthouse, boutique shops, beach horseback riding, tackle shops, tupalo honey, art studios, boat rentals, eco tours and more. 

We were given a card and if we had our card initialed by every participating vendor we visited we'd be eligible for a grand prize.  We didn't win that either.  It was a great idea because obviously it motivated all attendees to visit with all vendors.

I was ho humming about a planned customer service workshop since in my lifetime I have been to about sixty million of them.  But...Gulf County Community College presented an informative and entertaining program reminding even the most seasoned of us of the 10 Commandments of customer service.  Shegundala laughed her ass off since I have violated all of them & will probably burn in hell for it or surely lose business because of it.   It was a bit of a wake up call for me. Since I'm pretty much a one woman show and put in 14 hours a day ( boo hoo) I tend to get testy and forget that people are spending their hard earned money to stay here at the Dixie Belle and providing clean rooms is not enough.  They want my best personal effort and they deserve it.  So I'm going on record as saying that I'm turning over a new leaf. 

The smart ass in me is going to sum that up by saying that instead of just handing my guests the plunger,  I'll offer to personally plunge.  You get the idea.  I want to thank the Gulf County Tourist Development Council for a terrific day.