MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
One-to-One with Connie Stevens, new Director of Tourism for Falklands.
Connie Stevens, formerly, Marketing Manager for the Falkland Islands Development Corporation (FIDC) began her interview with FIBS News Editor, Sue Gyford, on Tuesday by admitting that after just one week in her new job she was “still finding her way.”
Some immediate concerns for the coming cruising season starting in November related to the provision of new security arrangements in accordance with the requirements of the Safety of Lives at Sea Convention (SOLAS), the preparation of the Jetty Visitor Centre and bringing up to date the range of leaflets and promotional material available for the expected flood of visitors, over 35000 last season.
Mrs.Stevens reported that the coming season looked good but expressed the view that there was "no room for complacency." Given the competitive nature of the industry globally, it was important that the Falklands should be able to deliver the level of customer service expected by an international clientele. It was also particularly important to give cruise ship visitors an incentive to convert to long stay visitors on some future occasion. This had to be a key objective.
Asked by Sue Gyford to comment on the response of the cruise ship industry to the recently announced £5 increase in passenger tax in the Falklands to cover the ongoing costs of new port security measures, Mrs. Stevens reported that the feed-back had been "mixed". Some of the companies involved had been unhappy she said, but she felt confident that if the Falklands could "deliver the goods" in terms of customer services "the £5 will disappear". She stressed that the Falklands did have to comply with the port security requirements of SOLAS and that the ability to do so should be regarded as a selling point to the industry.
Mrs. Stevens said that she did not know whether the financial difficulties currently being faced by some cruise ship companies were the tip of a larger iceberg, though there was bound to be increased competition in this sector globally, as the confidence of the traveling public in air travel recovered to pre-9/11 levels. What was important for the Falklands was that the local industry should work together to consolidate and maintain its present position.
Turning to air arrivals and the current ban on charter flights to the Falklands imposed by Argentina, Mrs. Stevens said that she was not yet up to date with the current situation but that an increase in frequency seemed unlikely. Until the situation changed it would be necessary to maximize the opportunities offered by the weekly LAN flight and the military air connection currently operated by Air Luxor.
On the marketing front Mrs. Stevens said she hoped to try and broaden the base of the Islands attractions to visitors by exploring fresh high value niche markets, citing astronomy, painting and botany as possible targets. She wanted to further develop the Falkland tourism web site, www.tourism.org.fk to improve its ranking on search engines and to improve the linking between it and the tour operators with whom "some fantastic relationships" already existed.
As part of the marketing effort for the coming season, Mrs. Stevens said that the Jetty Centre would be issuing suggestion slips to all visitors, whether from cruise ships, air-borne groups or simply friends and relatives of residents. "More customer research is needed to find out more about what the customer wants", she concluded..
by John Fowler - Stanley
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