THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine says the quality of customer service on boat tours to the Buccoo Marine Park, one of Tobago’s major tourist attractions, still leaves a lot to be desired.

He made the statement on Tuesday night during a district town hall meeting at the Canaan/Bon Accord Multipurpose Facility.

While acknowledging that touting is an integral part of the economic make-up of the Canaan/Bon Accord electoral district, Augustine said he was very concerned about the quality of service offered to both tourists and domestic visitors.

“I am saddened by the reality that we nowhere near where we ought to be,” he said.

Augustine said Tobagonians are no different from people in other parts of the world.

“If you go to Cairo in Egypt, you will find ‘touters’ there trying to con you out of some money and try to get you to ride on some camel back. You walk through the streets of Paris, you will find some there.

“If you go in Los Angeles and you go on Hollywood Boulevard or you go in Times Square, somebody will charge you to take a picture with them and rough you up. It is a universal problem.”

He said Tobago, however, is a small island.

“A habit that might be universal, quite negative and people will overlook it, it is difficult for visitors to overlook when the place is this small.”

Augustine said his administration welcomes the entrepreneurial spirit of the young people who ply their trade in the Buccoo Reef and No Man’s Land.

“We are not desirous of them not doing so. In fact, we are happy that they are entrepreneurs in their own right.

"But what we long for is high-quality service and respect for guests.”

“As a community, I want us to recommit to that. And in us recommitting to that, it would mean that we will no longer see videos of man pulling knife for man in the middle of the ocean and people fighting and cussing. We will no longer see a situation where you may have young children on your boat and the music is expletive-riddled.

"Just being sensitive to the customers and ensuring you give the highest-quality service.”

Augustine said “no amount of money the THA can spend anywhere in the world will do better for our tourism product than the quality service that we give when a visitor comes here.”

He said those plying their trade in the Canaan/Crown Point/Bon Accord district were in the epicentre of the island’s tourism sector.

“By virtue of your numbers and being in the hub of the southwestern region, I will love for you to become leaders in high-quality customer service as you have become leaders in other spheres before.”

The Augustine administration, which assumed office after the December 2021 THA elections, has continued the island-wide customer-service initiative launched under the PNM-led THA in August 2021.

The three-year project, led by a Singaporean company, Uplifting Service, is aimed at changing the service culture on the island. It is being carrid out by the Tobago Tourism and Hospitality Institute.

The institute’s CEO Dr Stephen Sheppard told Newsday in M