Reviewing the role of front liners in tourism

Vipula WANIGASEKERA

The front liners in tourism are often the sales staff of the industry. They meet the customers including those who attend overseas promotions and meet the wholesale and retail tour operators to market their products and services.

The other type of front liners are the ones whose function is less visible in terms of publicity. They are the Guides of various categories who interact directly with tourists coming to Sri Lanka or any country.

A view of sun set from the Navy’s Jetliner cruise, the latest addition to the tourism products of Sri Lanka. (Photo - Sri Lanka Convention Bureau)

They interact with the tourists - the real consumers of our tourism products and services who are entrusted to be looked after by tour, chauffeur or trail guides.

The weight they carry in their function is therefore simply 'Making or Breaking' the future influx of the tourists.

The guide lecturers courses including chauffeur, area and site tourist guide courses from the authorities and personal attention paid by some companies in this area who go to the extent of getting a feed back from tourists, do help to maintain standards of Guiding.

On the other hand, many of our guides have performed a wonderful job for decades, taking their jobs seriously.

Now and then, there have been complaints too which need to be addressed while taking note of the future trend of tourism.

Srilal Miththapala, in his recent article on Elephant, Blue Whale, Leopard and Sloth Bear, says there is no reason why Sri Lanka cannot brand these animals together as a 'must see'- 'Sri Lanka's Big 4' and suggested that it is timely and useful branding initiative to popularize Sri Lanka's natural wonders to the world.

This goes without saying that such efforts will also call for educating Guides on these emerging potential sites beyond Sun, Sea and Sand particularly when promoting new markets. And also for those who are visiting Sri Lanka for the first time from any market.

Similarly, there are new locations and products being developed and an opportunity is expected to be provided to everyone to have a better understanding of the new products in addition to the basic knowledge on archaeology, history, culture, wildlife, nature, birds, camping, trekking and hiking, roads and terrains.

For instance the Development Authority and the Convention Bureau have organized two more workshops in March and April on the Ramayana Trail in Sri Lanka. This has already started attracting a large number of Hindu devotees into the relevant sites.

The Whale and Dolphins watching have special guidelines for boats as well as the enthusiasts which the Guides must be conversant with. The Navy's Jetliner is the latest addition to the Tourism products.

These front liners' approach, skills and handling of affairs and sometimes with demanding travellers have a tremendous impact on the promotional efforts of the Authorities and the industry overseas.

What happens during promotions is that the industry makes a promise and that needs to be fulfilled. Price element is more or less settled by then and what comes afterwards the service which remains throughout until the tourist departs from Sri Lanka.

A pride of place is given to communication skills of the guides. While they are fairly conversant in English, German, French depending on the deployment, the language skills must also be extended to Chinese, Japanese, Hindi/Urdu, Russian, Arabic, Italian, and Spanish at a time the authorities have identified new and secondary markets for promotional campaigns.

Sri Lanka needs a competitive edge over the region. The knowledge in products, locations and their significance comes along as a 'must' for guides.

Apart from the role and functions of a Tour Guide, he is expected to bear in mind the interpersonal skills that can generate more and more tourists into the country because the 'word of mouth' is the most credible communication mode than all other promotional paths taught in theories.

Here again a tactical approaches can be developed if the Guides are provided with the profile of the visitors including their interests prior to their arrival so that the guides will have sufficient time to plan out and even rehearse how he will present the locations and products to the visitors.

The ground handlers face many problems when the groups want to change their itineraries with sudden change of preferences. These can be anticipated if information on them can be obtained before hand.

Similarly the Guides have to constantly monitor the behavioural patterns of the visitors when he has to make on-the-spot decisions.

Some itineraries may not be practical and may entail long travel times and tiring climbs hence the need to consult the guides when preparing new programs particularly for new markets.

Anything overdose whether heritage or wildlife can be counter productive when visitor expectations are met with constraints. In this respect most of the senior guides in the country have imparted their knowledge and any further assistance from them can enhance this area.

There are also skilled freelance guides who come up with short itineraries for FITs that are not in general programs but ideally fit into the needs of the consumer.

Inputs from Guides' Associations and senior guides is imperative when meetings take place for policy decisions. While this is taken care of by the authorities to a greater extent, they should be permanently part of decision making process so that the importance of decisions so made cascade down to the front liners in operational language.

The quality customer service was one strong contributor that brought in the tourist into the country during troubled times and the Guide played a key role in that effort. Complaints were also handled professionally. What is desirable now is two fold.

First is to bring the services of guides specially the ones who are entering the industry, to a higher level as the tendency can well lead to a declining stage when tourism is thriving with increasing arrivals being observed today. One visitor once raised a question as to whether the guides are trained in emergency situations including first aid and CPR.

Second is to make sure that the engagement of these front liners as direct partners in policy making taking into account that there are many free lance expert guides.

Their versions and expertise is necessary to add value to the service factor in tourism when the industry is gearing itself to achieve a challenging target of 2.5 million tourists by 2016.