BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE thrust toward improving the customer service standard in the Federation’s public and private sectors has been reaffirmed in an Organization of American States (OAS)-sponsored workshop this week.
The multi-national project, entitled ‘Capacity Building: Tourism Training and Certification Project’, is being staged collaboratively with the St. Kitts Tourism Authority and aims to build capacity in the hospitality and tourism industry, particularly in countries where tourism is a main economic sector and the engine of growth.
Over 20 service providers in various sectors from both St. Kitts and Nevis convened yesterday (Feb. 23) at the Bird Rock Beach Hotel for the three-day event facilitated by Euphemia Brice-Roberts of Brice-Roberts Business Consulting Services.
CEO of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority Rosecita Jeffers gave brief remarks at the opening, noting that the success of the tourism industry is dependent not just on developing accommodation plans, sites, attractions and marketing but also on the quality of service delivery.
“Our industry is one of the most global, complex and certainly one of the most competitive in all the world. The success of our industry is therefore dependent on our actions and our reactions and the interaction and integration of our suppliers, buyers and consumers—not just in our destination but across the entire spectrum of this global phenomenon, the tourism industry,” she said.
Jeffers’ statements were supported by the OAS Representative to St. Kitts-Nevis Starret Greene as he asserted that customer service is the “lifeblood” of the hospitality and tourism industry.
After engaging the participants in a number of anecdotes, Greene charged them to let customer service be the buzzword that guides them to a more welcoming tourism product.
“Let us make customer service an entrenched part of our way of life so that it is not only practiced in our hotels, restaurants, travel agencies and among our taxi drivers, but also is championed in our supermarkets, retail and wholesale outlets, at our meat, vegetable and fish depots, in our credit unions and our banks, at our sports complexes and yes, in those Government offices that have been created to serve the citizenry as well.
“Delivering quality service should be the priority of any establishment, particularly if it hopes to win and secure the patronage of customers,” he said.
Though he stressed the importance of quality customer service in the sector, Greene made it clear that providing quality service does not equate to servitude. Rather, it makes every establishment and the wider nation more competitive regionally and internationally.
Countries that are participating in technical cooperation with the OAS for this activity are Antigua and Barbuda, Belize and St. Kitts-Nevis.
