Cardiff's new Tourist Information
Centre is managed by a private company, Cardiff Marketing Ltd., which has taken
a ten-year lease on its new office in a prime location near the Millennium
Stadium.
Alan Michael the
first Secretary for the National Assembly for Wales with Deborah Ridge admiring
the CTV systems at the launch of the new facility
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The Centre has been refurbished
throughout to take account of all the needs of a modern TIC, including - of
course - the installation of the latest in computerised destination management
systems from CTV.
Since its opening in late June, the new TIC - located in Cardiff City Centre,
just opposite the railway station - has been very busy, with sales doubled and
customer enquiries reaching an all-time high.
The Centre has been carefully designed to guide customers through the different
areas, from the well-laid-out retail department, to the separate desks, which
have been installed for the fully computerised Enquiries and Accommodation
Bookings sections.
But with all this high-tech equipment in place, how are the staff finding the
systems?
Manager Deborah Ridge says "We have a variety of staff of all ages and with
all levels of experience, and they have had no problems at all with the new
system: even the completely non-computer-literate find the CTV software very
easy to use.
"The new CTV EPOS tills make our retail department much more efficient.
"In addition, the other information systems mean that when we have special
attractions or events going on, we can deal with enquiries and bookings even
more efficiently, and so can enhance the wonderful service we already offer our
visitors to Cardiff."
Cardiff TIC is no stranger to computerised systems, having worked closely with
CTV since its infancy in 1992 when the Centre's two original single-user systems
were installed.
Now, with funding from Wales Tourist Board, Cardiff TIC has completed the first
stage of its upgrading programme, which will provide an up to-date network and
sophisticated management system including the full CTV TIM4 Destination
Management suite, plus AA Milemaster, an itinerary planning service for road
trips throughout Britain, Ireland and Europe, and BR Journey Planner, for all
rail journeys including Eurostar and London Underground information.
To support all the new software, a new network system incorporating a file
server, six workstations - four in the Centre itself, with a further two in the
office to handle advance bookings and telephone reservations - plus three
printers were required. The new equipment was supplied and installed by CTV.
In line with CTV's policy of helping tourist management centres to maximize
their assets, the capital cost was spread using a flexible three-year lease
option that allows for all hardware to be replaced at the end of term.
This CTV service provides a sensible and economical way of purchasing, with an
inbuilt budget for future upgrades.
With the time constraints imposed by the need to have the new TIC up and running
for the busy summer season, CTV undertook the data entry of all stock records
for Cardiff TIC.
This involved entering all the stock details: item descriptions; categories and
sub-categories; physical locations of the goods; RRP, unit and buying prices;
opening stock levels; and creating and printing the bar codes and labels for all
items on sale within the Centre.
"CTV simply couldn't have been more helpful,"
says Deborah. "Sally was an absolute gem with her training days to ensure
that all our staff were comfortable with the systems right from the start.
"She even remained on-site on the day we went 'live'
to hold our hands in case we panicked under pressure!"
Cardiff has its next stage fully planned: multi-media Public Access Terminals (PATs)
will be installed, taking the new centre well on into the next millennium.
And where will the city be looking for its next systems?
"I hope we will continue our long-standing and excellent relations with CTV,
I don't think we need to consider any other provider" says Deborah. "I
have seen TIM used badly, and it still works, and when it's used properly I
think it's excellent.
"I would certainly recommend that destinations and TICs look at CTV when
setting up anything from a simple single-user system to the latest multi-user
systems.
"With a fully integrated destination system designed by tourism experts for
tourism users, what more could you possibly want?"
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