TOURISM businesses will be able to improve the service they provide visitors thanks to a new free on-line training course.

Cairngorms Connections has been running for two years and aims to improve tourism businesses and visitor centres’ understanding and awareness of the National Park and its many attractions. Due to its popularity, an on-line version has just been launched.

As part of the course, users are given a series of scenarios where they must provide a suitable itinerary according to the groups’ requirements and preferences – for example a family of four wanting an adventure holiday. The on-line course has a step-by-step guide to help users and takes around four hours to complete.

It will not only improve customer relations, but also help businesses improve their knowledge and understanding of the Cairngorms National Park.

The project is unique to the Park and is being run by the Cairngorms National Park Authority and Tourist Board Training, with funding from the European Social Fund.

Liz Buchanan, chief executive of Tourist Board Training said: “We’ve been delighted to work with the Cairngorms National Park Authority on the successful Cairngorms Connections workshops and, by transferring it to an online version, we are making it more accessible to tourism businesses whom we hope will find it useful to enhance their customers’ experiences.”

The online course was designed by staff at the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC). Margaret King, SAC’s flexible learning manager added: It’s been a great opportunity for SAC to design and produce this new course. It was a pleasure working with the development team and the online course complements our strategic aim of providing learning opportunities to the wider, rural community.”

To enrol on Cairngorms Connections Online or to request a CD-Rom version of the course, please contact Tourist Board Training on tel: 01294 313006 or email: tbt@tbt.visitscotland.com