THA Chief Secretary Ancil Dennis says the assembly wants to change the service culture of Tobago over the next three years.

He said this will add significant value to the island as a tourist destination.

At the post executive council media briefing last Wednesday, Dennis gave an update on the assembly’s islandwide customer service training initiative, which is being held in conjunction with the Tobago Tourism Agency Ltd and the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Institute.

Dennis confirmed the initiative is being conducted by Uplifting Service, which he described as a reputable, international training organisation.

“The intention is to train the entire island, tourism sector operatives and even persons across the public sector, taxi operators, all those involved in any element of service will be trained in customer service,” he said at the Calder Hall Administrative Complex.

Dennis said the first phase of the exercise targeted senior managers and those in leadership roles within the THA and other sectors across the island, including tourism and the Division of Health, Wellness and Family Development.

He said the next phase of the training, toward the end of September, will involve all workers in tourism and other sectors.

“So, the intention is for us to treat with our longstanding customer service issues. We want to improve our customer service over the next three years. We want to change the service culture of this island and of course that will add significant value to Tobago as a tourism destination.”

Dennis said the training will not run for three years.

“There are other elements of the programme that will continue for a period of time. So, it is not just a matter of training but identifying and understanding our pillars in Tobago, especially those relating to effective customer service and developing those and a new attitude and new culture towards service in Tobago.”

Dennis also said the public service training and development centre will be launched next month.

“That centre will be responsible for training all public servants across the assembly and that is expected to improve our public services in a number of areas, from customer service to the general efficiency and effectiveness of our public officers.

“Persons are expected, as a result of this training, to operate more effectively in accounting departments and this will, of course, have impact on some of the negatives coming out of the Auditor General’s report. So, we are going big on this issue of training and preparing our people for operating with more effectiveness, more effective customer service during and even after this pandemic.”