Developing Quality Products

All community-based tourism products should offer a memorable visitor experience based on maintaining high standards and high quality products.

In the Global marketplace, the Caribbean competes on quality and price. The second reason for the failure of many community-based tourism products is the poor quality of management of these products. This includes the absence of a comprehensive professionally developed business plan to ensure successful attention to management of quality and price of the product is critical.

Quality is about delivering an experience that meets or exceeds visitor expectation. Visitor needs vary depending on the nature of the target market. While all target markets may not seek luxury and sophistication, comfortable reliable accommodation in a healthy and safe environment is demanded by all segments of the market. Business operators depend heavily on market research to determine the best fit with a target market. However, in addition to the delivery of a high quality physical product an efficient service oriented culture is also demanded. Business transactions must be handled in an efficient manner. To maintain a consistently high product quality communities should be provided with training on the development of and maintenance of a service culture.

There are three main ingredients in product delivery regardless of the size of the enterprise or its location. These are:

• Attention to detail ensuring that what is offered is delivered in an efficient and pleasant manner.
• Quality and accuracy of promotion and information that ensures that expectations match reality.
• Authenticity and ambience. Authenticity has two parts. In the first instance, there is authenticity in human interaction. In the second there is authenticity in product offering. Tourists respond to genuine traditional values and experiences. However, many of them do not wish to be exposed in detail to long explanations or rituals. Yet, there are some visitors who do appreciate this experience. The challenge is to identify these differences. This is a role for market research. It is used to define customer demands and expectations.

Some other issues related to quality are:

• Attractiveness and abundance of the flora and fauna and the uniqueness of the landscapes contribute significantly to a high product quality. These attributes are good indicators of success and in their absence it becomes necessary to ensure the quality of associated facilities in an effort to offer a memorable experience.
• Many visitors look for a good mix of natural and cultural experiences.
• With respect to accommodation, cleanliness is of primary importance. In some instances issues such as toilet arrangements, privacy and the overall design and ambience of the site are important. These are cultural differences that need to be explained to the communities before visitors are introduced to them. Latin cultures, in particular, differ significantly from Jamaican and in this regard the communities need to be aware of this fact.
• Requirements will differ depending on the nature of the product e.g., campsite or eco-lodge. Nonetheless, regardless of what type of accommodation or product is offered health and safety standards must be met.
• Knowledgeable tour guides and accurate interpretation demands a blend of local passion, storytelling, scientific knowledge and accuracy. Tourism products requiring tour guides and interpretation may also demand different levels of training depending on the nature of the product and the target market. Some of the community people can be trained as tour guides and interpreters depending on their educational levels.
• Local produce and handicraft that reflect an area’s tradition may be made and sold. Within the community, this is an area for which special training programmes need to be designed to improve the design and production quality of the craft.
• General experiences of village life can be included into the visitor experience and in fact should be encouraged as it helps to preserve the local culture and knowledge.
• Participation: Some visitors value the opportunity to participate in activities while others do not. Different levels of visitor participation are to be anticipated and planned for in the development of community-based products.

There are also many ways to improve the delivery of service. Some of these are:

• Skills training. In cases where literacy levels are low skill training should be offered in conjunction with remedial programmes. These approaches are more palatable to the recipient.
• Sensitivity to staff development needs.
• Public/Private sector collaboration. For example, traditional tourism entities that are known for good quality products can be used as mentors to develop community-based tourism products in their area. The Government could consider giving rebates to existing tourism enterprises that participate in mentorship programmes through the HEART Act.
• Linkages between projects from different locations and providing different types of products and services can be used to create support networks for community members. These collaborative efforts can result in cost efficiency and team building.
• Managing change effectively by identifying the inhibitors and mitigating against them.

PIOJ document - Guidelines for South Coast Project -
prepared by Carolyn Hayle