Customer Service and Tourism
It is public knowledge that Trinidad and Tobago, which is in the midst of its diversification thrust, is making a more concerted effort to development of the local tourism sector will make the adoption of a customer service excellence philosophy in T&T an absolute necessity, for the two are inextricably bound. In the area of customer service excellence, this country does not have as good a reputation or track record as some of its regional counterparts, e.g. Jamaica, Barbados, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Aruba and Curacao, to name a few. Accordingly, concrete measures, systems and policies must be immediately put into effect to ensure that T&T can match strides with its Caribbean neighbours who are more seasoned and professional in the area of customer service, especially with regard to the tourism sector. The existing level of customer service delivery needs to be radically overhauled if this country expects to be considered as a tourist hub in the region and the wider Americas.
According to a recent study conducted by the World Economic Forum on various travel destinations, T&T was ranked a lowly 16th out of 25 countries surveyed in the Americas. This country has an overall ranking of 79 out of 133 countries. The survey also revealed the top three destinations in the Americas to be the United States, Mexico and Barbados. These facts and figures are certainly a cause for concern and are a clarion call for immediate action. T&T needs to put measures in place if it desires to improve on this ranking in the short to medium term. Underpinning any such measures taken, is the adoption by all the major stakeholders in the country of a culture that is committed to customer service excellence. T&T must strive to offer an equivalent or better level of customer service compared to its Caribbean counterparts.
According to the Ministry of Tourism’s National Tourism Policy of Trinidad and Tobago, a plethora of factors currently affect the potential of the tourism industry to play a more meaningful role in the development of the economy of Trinidad and Tobago. These include inter alia: the degree of collaboration and communication among stakeholders; environmental degradation; tourism education, training and awareness; local community involvement; infrastructure; air and sea access; marketing and promotion; quality of tourist accommodation establishments; adequate funding; socio-cultural impacts and customer service. Therefore, if this country has aspirations of becoming a more prominent tourism destination, all of these constraints must be removed in the quickest possible time. It is imperative that T&T has a sound infrastructure in place, in terms of the range of existing hotels and number of hotel rooms, amenities and conference facilities on offer sufficient flights to and from T&T, sufficient cruise ship arrivals and a reliable road transportation network.
Of the aforementioned challenges customer service, can be one of the primary disincentives to business and leisure travelers in T&T. It is not uncommon for visitors, upon landing at the airport to be met by long lines and generally stern and sometimes unfriendly officials at immigration and customs and to be treated with precious little consideration and respect. However, in order for T&T to establish a profile and reputation as a premier tourism destination in the Caribbean, there must be excellent customer service at every point of contact that visitors have with the country. From the minute the traveler lands at the airport, to the time he/she checks into the hotel or guest house, to the various restaurants, malls, groceries and stores that he/she visits, the level of customer service offered must be of a consistently high standard. When an individual stays at a hotel, or dines in a restaurant, he/she must receive excellent customer service in order to make his/her trip an enjoyable experience. Indeed, the most effective way to build customer loyalty in the tourism industry and, indeed all other industries is to provide excellent customer service.
A commitment to high customer service needs to become systemic and the normal way of operating in T&T. Furthermore, for any significant societal transformation to be realized, customer service sensitization needs to be done at an early stage. One of the main methods of achieving this is by introducing the philosophy of customer service in the education system. Teaching a young child good manners, ethics and consideration lays the foundation for good customer service.
As the education level progresses, a more practical/hands-on approach to customer service can be implemented. By the time students have entered the tertiary educational level, customer service would be part of their psyche rather than a foreign concept to them. By then, they would have received a sound grounding and understanding about what does and does not constitute proper customer service. At the tertiary level, it is now a question of honing this knowledge with more practical and interactive programmes/exercises focused on the theme of customer service excellence. All of the above measures (instituted from primary to tertiary level) will ensure that when students enter the workforce, they will be fully geared toward the daily practice of the customer service approach.
