Towards tourism sustainability…
GENERAL-Secretary of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), Mr. Hugh Riley, said, last Friday, that countries in the Caribbean have a responsibility to nurture the industry which employs some two million people and generates close to 19 million stay over visitors to the region. Especially because those countries are in direct competition, with others bigger and more economically sound, for a share in the tourism business, he told the fourth Annual Guyana Tourism Awards Ceremony.

Speaking at the function, in the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, Riley emphasised that, not only is tourism the biggest business in the world but it is in this region and, as such, all stakeholders need to be extra vigilant to maintain their position in the competitive field.

He pointed out that the United Kingdom (UK) has a Minister with the portfolio and a recent study, by Oxford Economics, indicates that, last year, tourism was responsible for 115 million pounds (Sterling) indirect and direct contributions to the British economy or approximately nine per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“Britain is seriously dependent upon tourism,” Riley said.
He also noted that the United States, earlier this year, legislated a new Travel Promotion Act, to raise in excess of US$100M a year to promote America as a tourism destination.
In addition, Riley disclosed that the tourism private sector of the U.S. will match that sum, so that the resulting annual budget will be US$200M, which is projected to yield 40,000 new jobs and US$320M in new Federal Tax revenue.
“This is the mighty U.S. saying that they want to be in the tourism business from the Government’s point of view,” he remarked.

REGIONAL VIABILITY
Riley said, to ensure regional viability, all actions and initiatives implemented by the CTO is guided by the principle of sustaining the assets of the tourism industry for the social and economic benefit of the people of the region.
He said Guyana is on the right track, by attracting the necessary support to highlight the natural beauty and fascinating cultural heritage of its vast country and of particular advantage to it is that it possesses all of the advantages of a South American nation, along with the ability to speak English.

Riley said the most recent example of this country’s thrust to strengthen the tourism sector is its exploration of the benefits of Hospitality Assured, a European Union (EU) programme, which aims to assist companies that will become certified to improve service quality and enhance their competitiveness.

“Whenever a business becomes truly competitive, it is ensuring its ability to survive,” he said, adding: “The excellent service becomes infectious and encourages others to adopt similar practices of excellence.”

Riley said another important facet of the survival of the tourism sector is recognising the importance of injecting value into a vacation at a competitive price, because tackling quality is the sure way of improving the tourism industry’s bottom line.

He said this can, most effectively, be addressed by employers empowering  their employees to exceed the customers’ expectations by ensuring quality service.

“As individual countries and as a region, we have some formidable  competitors, who are all fighting for visitors and are doing so aggressively.

EFFECTIVE TECHNIQUE
“Their market share is growing, they are pooling their resources to their best advantage and they have big budgets to market themselves,” Riley said.

He said an effective technique to deal with this requires Caribbean countries to pay greater attention to customer satisfaction as they are the most tourism dependent region on the planet.

“There ought to be no service, anywhere in the world, that is better than in this part of the world,” Riley declared.

“It is within our ability to achieve that, to fundamentally change the reputation for complacency that has developed in the region and to stop thinking that visitors will return regardless of how they are treated,” he posited.

To further strengthen the Caribbean position on the global market, Riley  proposed that countries within initiate a total visitor satisfaction programme, which would incorporate a range of services and criteria aimed at making the region a leading example of excellent service and complete customer satisfaction.

He said, if that is incorporated, each destination in the region would strive to become totally certified and compliant, focusing on certain standardised criteria.

Riley said initial research within the CTO indicates that there is no destination or region, anywhere in the world, that has developed such criteria for total destination aimed at exceeding visitors’ expectations.

He said a total visitor satisfaction programme for Guyana would, considerably, increase the country’s competitiveness, which would require public and private sector partnership to portray it as a helpful, efficient, safe, accessible, environmentally conscious and truly hospitable destination.

“This is possible for the region as we possess the training, education and  dedication to make this happen,” Riley said.