Best practice starts here, so all aboard, urges DAVID HARBOURNE, director of the Learning and Skills Council in North Yorkshire

TOURISM, so vital a part of the York and North Yorkshire economy, offers tremendous prospects for further growth.

Some aspects are particularly promising, such as business tourism - shorthand for the meetings, conference and exhibition market.

People visiting the area for business reasons tend to spend more than the average visitor, which is good news for local businesses. There is also scope to increase the number of high-spending overseas visitors to York and North Yorkshire.

We need to make sure that businesses are ready to capitalise on this potential.

This is where the Best Practice Forum comes in. The Forum is a government-backed initiative launched by a group of industry bodies to encourage businesses to learn from each other's best practice. Over a five-year period, more than £4 million will be invested to help businesses all over the UK to reach world class standards by improving productivity and providing better value to customers.

The good news is that the benefits of the project are now coming to York and North Yorkshire.

Under the banner of "Profit Through Productivity", professional support will be available to hospitality, tourism and leisure businesses so that they can compare their own levels of productivity and performance against industry benchmarks. This "health check" leads to tailored advice from a business adviser about putting together a development plan.

Businesses which join the programme automatically become members of the Best Practice Club, which gives them exclusive access to a range of master classes, visits to other members, self-help kits, case studies of good practice developed by other members, business development programmes and helpline support.

And it doesn't end there - one-to-one help and advice will be provided by accredited business advisers and business mentors.

Master class topics are wide ranging, and include business planning, customer feedback (how to get it and what to do with the results), winning and

The first breakfast briefings are during the week starting next Monday at dates to be announced. Inquiries can be made by phoning Business Link Information Centre at 01904 686000. Further background information is available on a dedicated web site, www.bestpracticeforum.org.

Updated: 09:16 Tuesday, March 25, 2003