Tourist Animation is a young specialty within the hotel industry, it carries within it the great responsibility of developing skills that transform values and aptitudes towards those who exercise it and enjoy it, its fundamental objective is based on achieving a pleasant enjoyment and recreation for clients and people who need to occupy their leisure time, therefore, those in charge of carrying out this activity must possess qualities that other than entertaining achieve new forms of socialization for the client.
A well-planned free time will achieve:
• Organize the necessary conditions for personal and collective development.
• Promote solidarity and camaraderie through communication and group work.
• Raise awareness of the importance of educational use of leisure and free time.
• Seek participation in the management of the residence and in the planning and development of activities.
• Involve residents in community activities.
• Optimize group dynamics.
• Design and development of recreational and cultural activities that enhance solidarity and cooperation.
• Compensating for cultural deficiencies and inequalities.
• Work to increase the self-esteem of the elderly, above all, supporting the socio-cultural difficulties involved in changing the situation from working life to retirement.
• Create a good climate for exchanging experiences.
In all cases, leisure and animation are an opportunity to find differentiating values.
The animation team constitutes an important potential to generate values
1.- Promote participation: No matter the age, social status, or nationality of the client. A well designed and managed program by a good animation team makes the client feel comfortable participating and encourages other clients to participate as well.
2.- Establish emotional bonds: Through participation, the client is interacting with the animators and creating bonds that provide closeness and break the impersonal barrier. The entertainer ends up becoming a "friend" with whom to share the holidays.
3.- It enables new experiences: If the objective is to innovate, do not hesitate to promote creativity and collaboration between departments to implement new leisure experiences. The animation team then becomes a good facilitator of these experiences.
4.- The client feels listened to: the client tends to share with the entertainer everything that may be right or wrong within the establishment. The animator becomes an important source of information for management and an informal manager of complaints. From his "friend" position everything is less awkward.
5.- Promote internal consumption: It is interesting to involve the animator in the actions that support the promotion of internal consumption. Coordination between departments is essential to launch initiatives of this type.
6.- Generate content on Social Networks: Due to its location within the hotel, the animator can photograph, do interviews and / or record images in a more natural way. Having a profile with these characteristics within the team is of great help. Always taking into account the Data Protection Law (LPD).
7.- Strengthens the brand image: The animation team is an interesting element to support the marketing department. All the image related to leisure and animation can be used to enhance our Brand.
8.- Loyalty: In vacation hotels that have good entertainment teams, the repetition rate is usually higher. When making their reservation, some clients ask if this or that entertainer continues. With the advent of Social Networks, all this is enhanced much more because the possibilities of "talking" with the client are much greater. Although it seems obvious, the entertainment team must create a good holiday and playful atmosphere within the establishment, which is already a value in itself.
There is no doubt that the tourism sector is enriched by the services provided by the animation teams, many people are unaware of their work, even in certain cases, the internal clients of other departments, who are not aware of the reason Being from an animation team, they believe that they are mere activity monitors, and that is indeed one of their functions, but not the only one.
The animator's work itself is not only focused on sports activities during the day and shows and games at night. The mission of an animation team concerned with growing as a department is to analyze, interpret and respond to the reasons why the client decides to spend their holidays in the complex where they are staying.
It should, although not always simple, try to reach as many people as possible, creating a climate or atmosphere of cordiality, friendship or even fraternity in some cases, although always bearing in mind the fine line that must separate the animator client.
The objective, among others that it imposes or underlines, must be the contact, the visible part of the staff, is the entertainer, to whom they often come to consult or explain their complaints or suggestions. So many times he becomes an illusionist, a trainer, a salesman, a juggler, something of a doctor, a psychologist, a leader, a transformer of moods, something of a friend, something of… and quite a lot of messenger of happiness..
They must be ambassadors of leisure, bet and give an example of the real possibility that exists to lead a different, healthier, more communicative, more interpersonal and multicultural life.
It is a tourist activity that, in addition to entertaining, fosters the values of friendship, love, and knowledge towards other stories and cultures. The animation activity is very complicated, we do not seek quantitative results, but rather to qualify those who carry out the activities. For this reason, perhaps more than the activity itself, the animation and group work techniques we use are of interest. We must remember that it is not about preparing activities for clients, but with clients.
It is in this field where an animation team can make a difference, where people can still be socialized, bond of friendship, achieve interpersonal and multicultural communication between countries and regions and where the animation of the 21st century can be directed.
