Bahamas tourism industry workers are being urged to up their game after the nation’s minister of tourism said it had ‘let slip’ its leading reputation for quality service delivery.
Obie Wilchcombe said the Bahamas had ‘to work on the quality of our people’ to regain a competitive edge and justify it market position as a relatively high-priced destination.
"We have to improve the quality of our service if we’re going to be competitive," Wilchombe said.
"We can’t have the high rates we have, and high costs we have, without the service to back it."
"We have to work on the quality of our people. You will not have a great country unless you have great people with great soul, great spirit," he added.
Wilchombe said high service standards are essential to support hotel product quality, such as the $3.5 billion Baha Mar project scheduled to open in 2015, adding that all Bahamians who interact with tourists – including taxi drivers and street traders – have a role to play.
The minister’s comments come after a IMF sponsored survey revealed the Bahamas had lost the largest market share of tourism in the Caribbean since the recession.
The study entitled ‘Revisiting tourism flows to the Caribbean: What is driving arrivals’ said the Bahamas’ share of the market had fallen 3% between 2007 and 2013.
