FARMINGTON – A development group’s recent plan to increase tourism in Maine is now giving businesses access to online workshops, DVDs and customer service workshops meant to provide more options to train the state’s work force. The Maine Woods Consortium started the employee training programs last year after a survey found building strong customer service skills was the biggest concern for many businesses, according to project officials.

The training featured regional and statewide programs that focused on customer service, according to Shaunacy Cobb, project manager, and has resulted in current plans to expand the program into other counties this year while continuing to fund new training opportunities.

Businesses are now able to rent training DVDs from lending libraries set up through partnerships with chambers of commerce, and many also were able to send employees to workshops planned in cooperation with business groups, said Cobb, who works for PlaceWorks Consulting, which was hired by the group as project manager for its tourism initiative.

Statewide businesses were also recently able to start training employees through new free online workshop, accessed through the website www.MaineSBDC.org, which is the site of project partner the Maine Small Business Development Centers, according to a project release.

A federal rural business enterprise grant for $50,908 was used to start the regional programs last year in Franklin, Piscataquis, and Washington counties, according to Cobb.

Almost 130 people from the three counties attended the training offered by the program last year, Cobb said in e-mails. They came from 80 different businesses and nonprofits ranging from lodging, outdoor recreation, retail and dining.

Eleven different businesses and nonprofits in Franklin County sent about 30 people to training workshops last year, she said.

The Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, which has lending library sites in Farmington and Carrabassett Valley, has training DVDs it rents out for a $5 fee, according to Lorna Dee Nichols, executive director of the chamber.

These types of regional programs through the tourism initiative, known as the Maine Woods Tourism Training Initiative, are expected to expand into Aroostook, Oxford and Penobscot counties, according to Cobb. The project received another $86,330 federal grant to expand and reinvest in existing programs in 2011, she said.

The Maine Woods Consortium behind the initiative is a group of nonprofit organizations, businesses and government agencies that formed an association in 2008, according to Cobb.

The group was created by a partnership with Maine Mountain Heritage Network, which was involved since 2001 in heritage development projects from across Franklin, Oxford, Somerset and Piscataquis counties, she said.

The new group added Penobscot, Aroostook and Washington counties to the existing region, and set a mission to focus on projects involving the economy, environment and community of this region, Cobb said.