As a component of its ongoing local tourism awareness campaign, the Department of Tourism is launching five new television spots designed to raise the level of customer service in the territory and promote the customer service pledge. The ads will air locally on the Government Access Channel and other local cable channels beginning this week, according to a press release from Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty.
“Until now our tourism awareness message has been promoted locally in print, radio and online, so we are very excited to broaden our audience even further by adding television to our media mix,” Nicholson-Doty said. “Television also provides us a great opportunity to visually dramatize interactions with our visitors and illustrate how improving our customer service skills not only enhances the visitor’s experience but also fosters a greater sense of personal ownership in our tourism product.”
Each spot features a mocko jumbie character who intervenes when poor service is being delivered and inspires the service provider to take the customer service pledge. In the spots, taking the pledge results in the delivery of superior customer service, produces satisfied customers and fills the service provider with pride. The interactions depicted in the ads came directly from comments received by mystery shoppers who visited the territory in 2009 to rate the level of service in the U.S.V.I. The Mystery Shopper study, commissioned by the Department of Tourism, revealed that although the USVI scored 82 percent across ten customer service standards, a score of 90 percent or above is what it will take to ensure that visitors return and recommend the destination to others. Mystery shoppers “shopped” ten sectors throughout the territory including hotels, taxis, restaurants, retail and the general public, among others.
“As members of a tourism-based community, providing exceptional customer service is essential to the success of our destination and our future prosperity,” said Nicholson-Doty. “Equally important is the level of service we provide each other as residents of the Virgin Islands, which is why we encourage the public at large to take the pledge and make the U.S.V.I. a more hospitable place for all of us.”
In addition to placing the ads on local television, the department plans to incorporate them into school presentations to encourage dialogue about exploring attitudes and cultural differences as it relates to tourism. The spots may currently be viewed online at usvimarketing.com. They were produced by Tell Tale Pictures, a film and digital production company based on St. John.
For more information on the customer service pledge and to take the pledge, visit usviservicepledge.com.
