Hall: Red Caps have critical role

As tourism’s front-line ambassadors, red caps have been urged to play their part in ensuring that visitors here have the best possible experience.

The plea came from Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Tourism Product Authority, Dr. Kerry Hall, as she addressed a ceremony marking the completion of a week-long Barbados Together workshop by 20 of these workers.

Reminding the red caps that their job was more than just carrying bags, she pointed out that as some of the first people tourists met upon stepping onto these shores, they had a critical role to play in putting the country’s best foot forward.

“It is one thing to pass through immigration and you may or may not have a fantastic experience there, and then between immigration and customs there is you. I want you to know your job is not just about taking up bags, putting them on your trolleys and wheeling them out. You have a much more important role to play from a tourism and visitor perspective, not just foreigners, but also for local people,” she said.

In fact, Hall underlined that with the island “under a little bit of pressure right now”, it is even more important for red caps to be a fountain of information for tourists wanting to know the island’s attractions and events.

“We need those foreign exchange dollars, we need when visitors come to be able to give them the information they need so they could go to events and these places of interests or where they serve the local food, and spend. We need to get that visitor spend up and you play a critical role by advising them as front-line ambassadors,” she added, while speaking in the Training Room of the Grantley Adams International Airport as yet another group of red caps undertake the programme this week.

The exercise builds on product awareness by the individuals to various attractions around the island, as well as touching on several topics including customer service and how to deal with visitors with disabilities. (JMB)