GTA targeting customer service during Tourism awareness month

The Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) as part of Tourism Awareness Month, will be targeting customer service to ensure it is of a high standard.

“We will actually be hiring individuals to go in and experience certain offerings and certain business offerings so we can get a better feel of how effective some of the training programmes we’ve implemented are in terms of improving customer service and other standards to meet international tourism export standards,” Director of the GTA Brian Mullis disclosed at the launching ceremony held at Cara Lodge in Georgetown.

Many persons have taken to social media over the past couple of months to complain about customer service at both public and private sector agencies and businesses.

Tourism Awareness Month is being observed in November under the theme “Tourism is a force for good in Guyana.”

The GTA is also launching an ‘ILoveGuyana’ video series and logo campaign which will see several quotes on t-shirts relating to the tourism pillars: Culture and Heritage, Active Exploration, Birding, Nature and Wildlife and SAFE (Scientific, Academic, Volunteer and Educational) travel.

There will also be food and rum route tours geared at promoting the unique food, culture and services offered in each of Guyana’s regions.

Mullis said, “well-managed tourism helps to preserve cultural heritage and protect the environment.”

He noted that visitors for 2018 contributed to 22,000 jobs and approximately $6B to Guyana’s economy making tourism the second-largest export sector in the country.

President of The Tourism and Hospitality Agency of Guyana (THAG) Mitra Ramkumar thinks that Guyana’s tourism sector is underestimated by Guyana’s leaders.

“Internationally, the former UN Secretary-General said that tourism is the third-largest export industry in the world after chemicals and oil so I think tourism as an industry is highly underestimated in Guyana, we would like to see this being recognized more and it matches its potential for what it can do for the entire population,” Ramkumar noted.

Ramkumar stated that his intention is to meet with political leaders in the period leading up to elections to find out what their plans are for tourism.

Director-General of Tourism within the Ministry of Business, Donald Sinclair commended regional participation in this year’s tourism awareness month activities.