Louisville Hospitality Program Is Batting A Thousand

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Tourism agencies celebrate enrolling over 1,000 attendees in certification classes

Louisville’s Certified Tourism Ambassador™ (CTA) Network reached a huge milestone in August with 1,000+ attendees finishing the class as the tourism industry continues to welcome a growing number of annual visitors to Louisville. Louisville Tourism, along with a regional collaboration with the Southern Indiana Convention and Tourism Bureau, have minted 1,040 hospitality educated city ambassadors in thisnationally recognized program.

The Louisville Tourism Ambassador Program trains applicants using Louisville-specific curriculum, a half-day training session, and an open-book examcovering local history, attractions, events, prominent figures, etc. to be Certified Tourism Ambassadors. The goal is to create consistently knowledgeable and positive interactions with every visitor to the city, thus encouraging repeat business, increasing new visitors and boosting visitor spending.

The CTA courses are open to all residents and high school students in Louisville and Southern Indiana and are being strongly promoted within the hospitality community. There is a one-time non-refundable, non-transferable application fee of $45 per person and an annual renewal fee of $30 per person. Among the recently certified ambassadors are Louisville’s hotels from front line to management, TARC Coach Operators, attraction personnel and volunteers and distillery teams.

“Visitors come to Louisville for a variety of reasons, but it is the high level of customer service that keeps them coming back. Participation this program ensures that our front-line service level is on par with all of the updates being made to our tourism infrastructure,” says Karen Williams, President & CEO of Louisville Tourism.

How tourism affects Louisville:

• Louisville welcomes 16.4 million visitors each year – which is the combined population of Michigan and Indian
• Tourism supports 1 in every 15 jobs or nearly 27,000 jobs in Jefferson Count
• Tourism tax revenue benefits the 309,175 households in Jefferson County by generating $540 in annual tax savings

Louisville is the twenty-eighth city to join the national CTA Network among Anaheim, Baltimore, Sonoma County, Cincinnati and Columbus. There are over50,000 frontline employees, volunteers and high school students that have been certified nationally.

An updated schedule and more information on the program can be found at www.gotolouisville.com/cta.