Countries that have experienced rapid development of their tourism sectors sometimes develop symptoms of 'tourism fatigue' - workers tired of smiling. In addition, the country's environment and infrastructure are increasingly stressed and there is fierce competition from new, fresh destinations. Such a condition requires careful and concerted actions and strategies aimed at radically changing attitudes, enhancing the environment and increasing the competitiveness of the industry.
In the early 1990s when Tourism Intelligence International was invited to the Bahamas to work with the private and public sectors to rejuvenate the sector, the Bahamas displayed all the symptoms of 'tourism fatigue'. Tourism Intelligence International did not recommend smile training. Rather, working closely with the industry, we launched the first ever "tourism begins at home" programme - an initiative that provided employees with their first opportunity to be tourists in their own island. Under our initiative, the private sector banded together to provide 12,000 opportunities for the industry's 5,000 employees to be a tourist o their own island - to stay at hotels, play golf, learn to dive, dine at restaurants, take island tours, and do the things that tourists do. This small programme, the first of its kind, had far reaching effects throughout the industry and caused one newspaper to claim that "Grand Bahama Island is friendlier to visitors thanks to the Tourism 2000 programme".
Tourism Intelligence International launched a survey of companies in Trinidad and Tobago and prepared the Competitiveness Report for the Trinidad & Tobago Economy. Results were presented to the Central Bank.
Officials Praise Program Geared to Improving Island Tourism
By Jorge Sidron
Travel Weekly's Guide to the Caribbean and the Bahamas
(September 13, 1993)
FREEPORT, Grand Bahama Island - Only eight months after its launch, a program to address a number of this island's tourism trouble spots is getting high marks from tourism officials here.
The program, called Grand Bahama Tourism 2000, is sponsored by the Grand Bahama Island Promotion Board, the Ministry of Tourism, local hoteliers, business owners and other island tourism interests.
Its goals include improving service by hotel employees, creating more stringent regulations for taxi operators, licensing beach vendors and constructing special booths from which their products can be sold. The plan was created by a consultant, Dr Auliana Poon of Caribbean Futures in Trinidad and Germany, along with the promotion board, hoteliers and other suppliers.
Marva Munroe, an official with the Grand Bahama Island Promotion Board in Freeport, said the program has had a "very positive impact on the hospitality industry and on the local community in general." "The enthusiasm for the program and the rapidity with which things are being accomplished are quite extraordinary," she said. "The attitude on the island is 'I want to help.' 'What can I do?' 'Let me be a part of this.'"
One component of the program is called Tourism Begins at Home, an initiative aimed at improving the quality of service on Grand Bahama Island. So far, said Munroe, Tourism Begins at Home has had a "great" impact on employee attitudes, a major source of complaints among visitors to the Bahamas.
Under the two-year program, workers in the island's hospitality sectors role-play as tourists, dining in restaurants, staying at hotels and taking island tours, among other things. Of the approximately 1,200 employees who have participated in the program, about 80% of them have been front-line workers, including maids, receptionists and waiters, said Munroe.
William Lacaff, chairman of the Tourism Begins at Home committee, said the program is teaching employees "what not to do and how not to treat tourists." "It is imperative that we meet the demand of the changing marketplace, moving from old tourism to new tourism, eliminating tourism fatigue and poor attitudes," he said. Change has also come to the island's taxi industry. Its powerful taxi union has agreed on a new pricing system that is "commensurate with efficient service," Munroe said.
In addition, in an effort to alleviate taxi overcrowding, the limit on the number of passengers allowed per taxi, depending on the size of the cab, has been lowered, said Munroe. As a result, group fares were increased by about $1 per person from Freeport Harbour to the International Bazaar, while the group rate from Freeport Harbour to Port Lucaya has gone up by $1.50 per person. "But the visitor is more comfortable," said Munroe.
All rates, meanwhile, including group and individual fares, are now posted in the taxi cabs at the Freeport Harbour and at the airport, she said.
"There has been a tremendous change in attitude" among taxi drivers, said Munroe. "They are far more positive than ever before. They want to see more visitors." The island also has clamped down on its beach vendors and hair braiders, establishing a dress code for them and setting up beach pavilions from which they can sell their products, said Munroe.
"Pavilions have been set up near the Quality Atlantik Beach and Golf Resort, the only place visitors can have their hair braided and buy things on the beach," she said. In a more controversial initiative, the committee is studying the island's 15% service charge and the possibility of either prorating it based on service or doing away with it completely. A decision on this, however, is not expected until April of next year, when the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union's contract expires.
In the past, workers have agreed to the 15% service charge in lieu of wage increases. "This is a very delicate issue because of the unions," said Munroe. "It's going to take a tremendous amount of effort and work by everyone."   
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