The Moffat Centre was commissioned  to undertake a study of the tourism industry in St Lucia; examining hotels, attractions and restaurants and focusing in particular on service levels and performance with a view to maintaining and developing St Lucia’s competitiveness as a tourism destination.

A matrix was designed, drawing from the SERVQUAL methodology, to collate and analyse data gained through mystery shopper visits in a systematic manner whilst key stakeholders from both the private and public sectors were interviewed to gain as views, aspirations and challenges to develop the quality of tourism to maintain St Lucia’s competitive advantage, and build a programme which they would support.

An extensive benchmarking exercise was carried out focusing on key indicators of operational performance, service standards (including productivity, efficiency, quality and level of service provided to guests).

This included exploring destinations with a similar profile (geographical and product: Anguilla, Barbados and Jamaica; product: Dubai) and service innovations (visitor journey; employee engagement; culture change and positive behaviour).

The final output was the development of training programmes aimed at managers, front of house staff, airports and port employees, centred on the premise that tourism was everybody’s business. These were piloted during the summer and autumn of 2008.

The Moffat Centre then undertook the training of the St Lucian trainers, who were successfully trained to deliver the programme to a target of approximately 17,000 staff working in tourism establishments throughout the island. This training programme formed part of the overall tourism strategy for the island; successfully highlighting the development of service standards and improving overall appeal of St Lucia as a world class tourism destination.

Further information

• St Lucia Tourist Board