You Deserve It!

“Time waits on no man” is a statement that bears much truth; in fact it was only a few weeks ago that the Tourism Service Excellence Awards (TSEA) committee announced the extension of the deadline (which is now closed) for the TSEA. Fast forward a couple weeks later, the team is preparing to select the semifinalists, who will vie for the awards.

I can imagine that it will be a difficult task to narrow the search for the semifinalists, after all Jamaica is known to have an impressive tourism sector, made possible by our outstanding service providers. It was only recently that Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett announced that, for the year 2017, Jamaica received a whopping 4. 3 million visitors, a number the country has never seen before. The sector also saw earnings of approximately 3 billion dollars, and we continue to rise.

Seemingly, our service providers are doing many things right for people to be interested in our product. These tourism entities that you visit and staff members you meet are placing emphasis on their offerings, to ensure that your stay is meaningful, exciting and definitely memorable. The service providers display obvious passion for their jobs and, they must be listening to their visitors to know how to cater to their needs and even exceed their expectations.

These semifinalists who will be showcased shortly are special gems in a group of fine stones. More so because we live in a world where marketing and advertising have taken on a multi-faceted approach, giving users more options, especially with the evolution of  social media advertising, it has become a challenge to differentiate oneself.

Therefore, to stand out among other great businesses and individuals means that theyhave taken a vested interest in ensuring that the Jamaican experience wows our visitors every time they visit the entities, and the staff is making days brighter than the ever present sun in the Caribbean.

I can just imagine how challenging it is to maintain composure on an especially hard day, to commit more than you are asked for and to place other people’s needs above your own. These characteristics are worthy of recognition, as it takes a special type of discipline to be an extraordinary worker.

This is the reason why we see all our semifinalists and winners as beacons of excellence. They represent the standard of service that our visitors look forward to, as it takes genuine care and team work for our visitors to experience a vacation that they thought was only possible in dreams.

We thank all our nominees for recognizing the importance of the TSEA and the influence that these tourism workers and organizations have on the success of the sector. And as our hardworking team toils over the submissions to select the semifinalists, congratulations to those selected as you move one step further to holding your pineapple plaque above your head, with great pride and dignity.