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LONDON, England (CNN) -- The travel industry is hoping a new charm offensive will attract more sophisticated tourists and high-spending business travelers to the British capital.
London is looking to import U.S. and European levels of hospitality in a bid to raise the standards of its hotel, restaurant and tour guides at the top-end of the market.
An acute deficiency in top-class waiters and fully-trained wine servers, as well as other skilled staff, has led the London Development Agency to pump £3.5 million ($6.3 million) into the initiative.
"We are looking at enterprises to come forward for the funding. In total 430,000 people work in this sector and we want to ensure that tourists get good service," Vincent Burke from the London Development Agency (LDA) told CNN.
Around seven million people come to London on business each year, around 25 percent of the total number of visitors. Yet they account for one-third of all tourism spending, according to the LDA.
"It will help London be more competitive. People remember a poor meal longer than a good one," says Burke.
The four-year training initiative which starts in January 2005 hopes to serve up better skills to some of the capital's 47,000 businesses in the travel and tourism sector, but there are some issues.
"Recruitment and retention is a problem. There is a problem keeping people in the industry and with training, as well as with career progression," explains Burke.
A number of pilot projects have been set up at both the Conran restaurants and The Churchill hotel.
Staff were taught how to improve their champagne pouring skills, knowledge of cigars, cocktail making and meat carving expertise, as well as brushing up on their English skills.
"One crucial factor in whether or not (visitors) come back to London is the quality of service they receive in hotels, shops, tourist attractions and any other leisure outlets," says Michael Gray of the Hyatt Regency London.
According to the LDA, the business visitor market is currently worth around £3 billion ($5.4 billion) to London.
The average overseas business visitor spends around £154 ($276) a day while in the capital, double the average daily spend of overseas leisure visitors.
