HEY! I don't understand you!!

HEY! I don't understand you!

When taking part in the Mayor of Jerusalem’s panel on how to improve the foreign tourist experience, I ventured that every party involved in the chain of encounters that makes up a ‘Jerusalem stay’ must improve in every way.

Staring with all places of entry to the city I said that the train station must be clean and spotless, welcome signs in many languages and uniformed tourist agents on hand for clarifications necessary. Taxis should be in very good running condition, clean on the outside and in, all systems working. The drivers should be dressed respectfully. The same for buses and their drivers. The ‘new attitude’ I said, should filter down to all the shopkeepers, restaurants and establishments that welcome visitors.

It is not enough, I declared, that people are friendly and show warmth. Many tourists and visitors are used to a different mentality than those of the normal Jerusalemite. They arrive from places where they are used to cabs in good condition, clean, well dressed drivers, spotless shops and good service attitude.

I also added that it was absolutely imperative that as many people in service positions speak rudimentary English, and perhaps a small comprehension of another language.

Utopia, right?

I think it is attainable if everyone pulls his weight in the different professions that services tourists, and is an ever evolving improvement to be measured all the time.

Now, consider my surprise when I read in the newspaper that Brampton, a predominantly Indian city in the Greater Toronto Area is considering cancelling the obligatory spoken English test for cab drivers! Are the city councilors signaling that they want only Indian visitors to Brampton? Surely they too want guests entering cabs to be able to be understood and to be able to understand the driver?

Some will say that this is a racist attitude. Nonsense! It is a simple matter of reasonable service standards to which every service professional should be held. In many cases the cab driver is the ‘first impression’ a guest receives when arriving at a new destination. Can you imagine a tourist getting into a beaten up, dirty cab, settling down on torn seating and carpets that have seen better days………..and then not being able to communicate with the driver. Wherever the cab driver hails from he/she should have basic command of English to satisfy clear communication.

Unlike hotels and restaurants, they operate out of range of Trip advisor, so no threat from there!

Following the horrible travel experiences we are put through today (The subject of my article http://www.stayaheadhospitality.com/the-rise-of-staycations-my-thoughts ), we expect that when we do arrive at our chosen destination we would like to be understood by as many there as possible. Is that too much to ask?

And yet there are cities that think otherwise and are going backwards!

It is a fairly simple idea to understand. It is not rocket science. To develop tourism in your city everyone needs to pull together to make the experience one that will keep people coming back to your city. A modicum of spoken English is one important factor in the experience.