A few months ago, I joined VisitBritain’s Welcome to Britain group – and boy, do we need it!

The aim of the group is to encourage Britain to recognise that Britain is now a service-based economy. Gone are the days when manufacturing was king. Come the 21st century, Britain’s role is now primarily a provider of services.

Do we recognise this? I don’t think we do, even as plans for the 2012 Olympics take shape. If we foul up in the service that we provide for this huge event, then Britain’s image as an ill-humoured, unwelcoming, expensive and poor value destination will be sealed in the minds of the many millions who come for this great occasion.

It’s true that people in the hospitality industry hardly need to be reminded of the nature of a service industry but outside hospitality, (and, unfortunately, even inside it on occasions) Britain’s transformation from a manufacturing-based economy has been uneasy.

As a nation, we are still not entirely comfortable with providing service, too often equating service with servility – a chip on the shoulder that our American and Australasian cousins have long since cast off.

So the aim of VisitBritain’s group is to try to ensure that the traveller’s journey from airport to hotel, to taxi, to rail terminal, to attractions, to restaurant or pub, to sight-seeing, and then back to the airport is as welcoming and as trouble free as it possibly can be. In other words, to encourage the entire population to give a positive and sustained welcome to our visitors, wherever they may be.

Given the state of our airports, this may be a huge hurdle to cross. At Heathrow Terminal 4, one busy Saturday morning in December 2007, it took 40 minutes to drop off bags because only half the BA desks were manned; security took another 30 minutes. Returning, there was a 20-minute wait at immigration because so many desks were unmanned. It’s frustrations like this that make air travel such a trial and make the welcome (or departure) so memorable – but for all the wrong reasons.

Much, admittedly, depends on infrastructure. Heathrow’s Terminal 5 will be a huge improvement but only if BA and the Immigration Service can find enough staff to man the desks they have. Otherwise, not much will improve.

Transport links into and through London are totally out of date; whether these can be improved sufficiently before 2012 remains in serious doubt. Meanwhile, our roads become more and clogged.

All these are larger questions, outside the scope of the hospitality industry, but they should concern everyone who wants Britain to succeed as a service economy.

However, what is within our purview is the welcome the industry gives to those who use its services. Never has customer care been more important.

Managers need to ensure that front line staff have the customer’s interests at the very heart of their existence. This is largely a question of attitude. And of training. This needs no capital investment - indeed one thing is absolutely free. A smile.