CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi sophomore Adeline Chandler has been working at the Texas Surf Museum downtown since last April.
Already, she's learned a lot about making visitors happy.
“I think that’s really important, especially since this is a very touristy town," Chandler said. "It’s where we get a lot of business."
That same sentiment ledVisit Corpus Christito launch its Tourism Academy last summer. Since then, the free, online courses for employees of hospitality and tourism-related businesses, have been improved.
Participating businesses, and employees from businesses that are not participating, can sign-up and take revamped Tourism Academy courses and come out of them ready for important tourist seasons.
“Fully trained for Spring Break and peak season which is strategically why we wanted to launch it around February,” Visit Corpus Christi Brand Manager America Segura said.
Registration is open for the first of three levels of training which focuses on customer service for tourism.
Completing the course will earn a participant "CC Me" certification. It comes with a pin that the employee can put on their uniform to let tourists know they're trained to help visitors have the best experience possible.
“We wanted to make sure those employees that are visitor-facing — that are engaging with visitors and locals — are able to truly give the best customer service all around,” Segura said.
Chandler just found out about the Tourism Academy on Thursday. Given her job status, she's considering enrolling.
"A lot of people come here for vacationing, and we want it to be a very nice place for people to come visit — especially at the museum,” she said.
