According to Vernice Walkine, deputy director general of Tourism, this is not good enough.
"If we are going to sustain tourism growth, we really need a satisfaction rating of 95 per cent or higher. There is a proven formula that tells you a 95 per cent satisfaction rating is what is needed to sustain the growth of any industry," she said.
The ministry used comments from the June 2003 immigration departure cards for Nassau and Paradise Island representing 15,685 of 22,0674 visitors. Because the survey is apart of the departure card, more people are completing the survey as opposed to in the past when they had the option not to, which they usually chose. The cards are being scanned and the information compiled and assessed. The ministry is predicting a future completion rate of close to 100 per cent for these cards.
The advertising campaign encompasses print, television and radio and is intended to make Bahamians more aware of the concerns of visitors and the impact that visitors' dollars have on the national economy.
A series of print ads have been planned under the heading The Visitor's Voice, the first of which was launched last week focusing primarily on visitors' likelihood to recommend.
Ms. Walkine revealed that other pertinent areas would be addressed in subsequent ads.
The television and radio commercials will also focus on a variety of different angles including foreign exchange; follow the dollar; harassment and other pertinent topics.
"The spots are all intended to communicate a specific key message and we will change them over time to freshen them up and to get new messages out there," Ms Walkine said.
The initial advertisement launched by the ministry gave a sample of some of the positive and negative responses of visitors which included "lousy hotel"; unfriendliness of downtown business; "ridiculously high" taxi prices and "lackadaisical" transportation among the negative, and beautiful ocean; friendly people; delicious food and excellent hotel staff among the positive.
In the survey, visitors gave the highest ratings to attitudes of people, hotel service and restaurant food outside hotels. They listed hotel value for money; retail shops; taxis and hotel rooms as below expectations and requiring improvement.
Ms Walkine stressed that even though some people might see 71 per cent as not bad, this does not mean that it is good. "Trust me it isn't good when you have 30 per cent of your visitors saying I am not going to come back and I am not going to recommend."
Ms Walkine emphasized that it will cost the country money to replace these visitors who have decided not to return.
The campaign is expected to make Bahamians aware of how their "actions" or "inactions" influence visitors decision to return to The Bahamas or recommend the country to family and friends and the impact this it has on their bottom line.
"I am hoping that people will see that we all have to do better."
Ms Walkine said she does not connect this approval rating with the decline that The Bahamas is currently experiencing in the area of tourism.
She cited that the region in general is experiencing a decline in visitors' arrival, which is a reflection of the declining economies in the United States and other countries around the world.
She insists that given the current economic climate, "we have been able to hold firm where other countries in the region have suffered terribly."
By Martella Matthews, The Nassau Guardian
