With the explosion in cruise ship visitors, the industry has been caught in a scramble to make sure that when these visitors leave Belize, they do so carrying positive word of mouth. That's a tough feat to pull off when many of the visitors are on the ground for only a few hours and have a limited number of contacts. That's why the Tourism Training Unit of the BTB has launched a programme to teach tourism police officers how to make a good first impression in just 7 seconds. Today 12 officers graduated, certified in customer relations training. Trainer Marybeth Maestre says that a central focus was that word perception:
Marybeth Maestre: Course Instructor
Perception was a big word for them to come to understand how they are perceived and they weren't too sure about that, they just figured that you go out there and you do a job. They had to come to understand that it is how the guest sees them - that's the seven eleven rule - that in seven seconds the guest makes eleven impressions on them and I think they came to realize that, o.k., they are being graded by a guest and they have to work towards the big goal.
Claude Wilson: Tourism Police Attendant
This training that I went through is going to benefit me very,very much because what this training was about I would say is improvement cause what we are considered as in tourism are front line personnel and we are out there dealing with tourists directly. So what the training helped us to do is make a self-assessment of ourselves and so we can go out there and be very much efficient. This course is one of the most significant self-improving courses that I have ever been on and I am glad I took it.
Vincent Palacio: Director Tourism Training Unit
There is definitely a need at every aspect of the industry and it is important that we work with the Tourism Police Unit as they are the front people out there interacting with our visitors. This course, customer relations is the first of a series of courses that we will be offering to the Police Tourism Unit. The second will be a communications skills course so we will have all the officers trained in customer relations and communication skills so within a six month period all tourism police officers should have, should be certified in communications skills and customer relations.