KINGSTON, Jamaica – Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett says that service excellence is the backbone of the country’s tourism industry.

“It is not a mere buzzword,” he said, noting that 60 per cent of the value of the experience of a visitor is service.

“It encompasses every interaction along the tourism value chain, from the moment a visitor disembarks the plane to the moment they get back on their return flight, with all the experiences in between,” he pointed out.

Minister Bartlett was addressing day one of the Jamaica Customer Service Association (JaCSA) Conference on Tuesday. The two-day virtual event concludes on Wednesday.

Minister Bartlett, in further highlighting the importance of service excellence to the tourism industry, said that the front-line persons that tourists encounter, such as red cap porters, hotel front-desk staff, bartenders, tour operators and craft vendors, help to define their perception of Brand Jamaica.

He noted that although Jamaica’s tourism product is recognised among the finest in the world, it is important that Jamaicans “consistently deliver excellent service and a quality product that sets us apart from the competition”.

“It is the reason for an enviable 42 per cent repeat business that Jamaica enjoys… It is something we are very proud of and makes the investor feel comfortable about investing in Jamaica in tourism,” he contended.

The Minister credited quality service delivery with the more than four million tourists who have visited the country since the start of the year, generating earnings of approximately US$3.2 billion for the economy.

“We are expecting to end the year just a shade under four million visitors and earn US$4.2 billion, which is the first time in our history that we will be annexing the US$4 billion mark in tourism earnings,” he said.

Minister Bartlett, who spoke on the topic ‘Service Excellence: Implications for the Global Skills Sector’, said that Jamaica is looking at how new and emerging technologies can enhance tourism.

“We have been able to look at the impact of digitisation, what it offers in terms of efficiencies, and new capacities to add more to the experiences that people have,” he noted.

The Minister said that later this week, he will be speaking at a special conference on virtualisation and how technology can assist “the training and retraining of millions of people who are likely to be displaced because of digital technology”.

The JaCSA Conference, under the theme ‘The Power of Service Excellence in Building Trust in a Digital World,’ is part of National Customer Service Week activities from October 1 to 7.

-JIS