Tourism Ministry Embarks on Service Excellence Programme

The Ministry of Tourism will be rolling out its ‘Tourism Service Excellence’ programme on July 25, as part of initiatives to enhance and improve the tourism product.
The programme is geared towards promoting excellence within the sector in order to improve the competitiveness of the local tourism product in the global marketplace.
At a recent (July 9) media forum at the Ministry’s New Kingston offices, portfolio Minister, Edmund Bartlett, explained that the programme would facilitate on-the-job training of ground transportation crew, front desk personnel, and all other service providers.
“Service in the ‘new tourism’ is going to be the distinctive mark of destination Jamaica. We are going to be defined, in time, by the high touch service that we offer,” Minister Bartlett informed.
The programme, he pointed out, will “promote, highlight, and identify high quality service,” and celebrate and reward persons and entities displaying same.
In recognition of excellence in service, Minister Bartlett announced that the inaugural Tourism Service Awards, the “Oscars” of Tourism, will be staged later this year.
“There is going to be a service excellence Oscar which will come at the end of every year, when we will be selecting the best of the best from across the island, in the hospitality sector,” Minister Bartlett informed.
High touch service, he reinforced, will give Jamaica its competitive differentiation in the tourism marketplace.
“If we are going to move to the high end of the market, then we have to give high touch service. That is what is going to make the difference between them (visitors) visiting Jamaica repeatedly, and going to another destination,” Mr. Bartlett stressed.
He added that the sector’s focus is to “create the foundation for a solid product of the highest quality, so that we can drive more heads to beds.”