Delivering the closing charge to participants of the first National Tourism Conference, Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe explained that the campaign is aimed at changing the dynamics of the relationship the ministry previously had with the different groups involved in the delivery of the tourism product.
“We have sat behind desks and have alienated ourselves not only from those we ask to welcome our guests but also from the guests,” Minister Wilchcombe said. “That is why I, as Minister of Tourism will lead the domestic campaign to bring the straw vendors, the taxi drivers, the ferry boat operator, the porter, all truly into the picture.”
The minister noted that while these people have worked on the front line in delivering the tourism product, his ministry had previously not shared the information, comments and concerns received from visitors. He said in addition to not sharing information, the Ministry of Tourism had previously never awarded or celebrated the work of the street cleaner or the person who cleans the bathrooms.
In order to begin the restructuring of the relationship, the minister will send a personal invitation to industry participants.
“I am sending personal letters to employees in the tourism industry from the hotel worker to the bone fishing guide, from Inagua to Bimini together with a button that will read ‘I am ready to give more in 2004,'” Minister Wilchcombe said. “I will ask them to wear the buttons during this year.”
To launch the campaign the Ministry of Tourism has created a national theme song titled: “Give more in 2004”, which will begin airing on national airwaves beginning Feb. 1. The song, written and sung by Ian Williams with engineering and production assistance by Jermaine Rolle and Michael Hoyt, combines a pulsating Junkanoo beat coupled with the sounds of steel drums producing a mixture of indigenous Bahamian flavour with a splash of the Caribbean.
Playing the song for conference participants, Mr. Wilchcombe described the song as the product of two young men who wanted to do something for their country while at the same time demonstrating their enormous talent.
“They met with me at 8 a.m. on the morning Jan. 5, 2004,” He said. “I challenged them to create a message around the theme ‘give more in 2004.’ At 4 p.m. on the afternoon of Jan. 7, they were finished.”
According to Mr. Wilchcombe, following the conference, his ministry will make Abaco, Harbour Island and Exuma the immediate focus. “Each island of our country must be positioned to create self-sustainability,” he said. “We will move with haste to catch up with and to surpass the pace of investments so as to have in place an effective plan that incorporates the business of tourism.”
The minister also revealed that in the next scheduled meeting between the Ministry of Tourism and the private sector the calculation of the costs involved in maintaining year round advertising of The Bahamas will top the agenda.
“The public and private sectors must resolved that this year we will find the formula to ensure that The Bahamas enjoys year round advertisement,” Minster Wilchcombe said. “We will have to spend more on television, radio and print advertisement if we truly intend to get more.”
The Minister of Tourism noted that through the course of the conference, his ministry realized that both Bahamians and stakeholders in the tourism product were waiting for some time for a chance to discuss the industry.
“They came fully armed with information and ideas ready to get to work,” he said. “Clearly we can have a better product; we know what we have to do.”
Director General of Tourism, Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace said that over the next 30 days the information gathered in the conference would be compiled and at the end of that time disseminated to the general public. He added that in developing the conference, great measures were taken to ensure that the conference did not focus on hoteliers but on every aspect of tourism. Specific groups such as straw vendors, taxi drivers and hoteliers were invited to ensure the broadest representation. “I think you can tell from the people who turned out here that they were here in some numbers,” Mr. Vanderpool-Wallace said.
Although it was inevitable with the various stakeholders in the tourism product present at one meeting problems plaguing the industry would surface, Mr. Vanderpool-Wallace said that steps were taken before the conference to ensure that the conference would not only focus on problems but include solutions.
These steps included holding meetings before the actual conference to outline potential problems that could arise.
“We purposely did not want this conference to be a focus on problems; we wanted it to be a focus on solutions,” he said. “If you listened to a lot of the presenters, they were talking about solutions to problems as they identified it so they (conference participants) didn’t walk away saying oh boy we got a lot of problems.”
Mr. Vanderpool-Wallace said the conference stimulated a lot of ideas within the ministry of tourism about ways that certain areas of tourism that could be improved and predicted that more people would become involved in further developing tourism in the future.
By Martella Matthews, The Nassau Guardian
