Head of the Industry Services Unit at the Barbados Community College, Roger Worrell, believes that operators of private sector transport vehicles play a pivotal role in welcoming visitors to Barbados.
He also said that they were usually in contact with the visitors from the time of their arrival to their departure.
Worrell expressed these views on Sunday while addressing the graduation ceremony of the Passenger Transport Service Operator Training Programme at the Barbados Community College.
Worrell said officials at the BCC saw themselves as being responsive to the wider community and not just the college’s regular student body.
“We have a duty and a responsibility to educate, train, retrain and instill values, attitudes and skills which are deemed necessary to create a well trained cadre of persons able to function in various industries,” he said.
The training course commenced in June 2012 with 59 participants, 10 of whom were women. It is anticipated that there will be another intake of participants in early 2013.
The divisional head told the participants that officers of the Industry Services Unit visited various taxi stands and tour bus companies to promote the programme and to initiate and complete the registration process.
Worrell explained that the programme was designed after collaboration between the BCC and the Ministry of Tourism, and the objective of the programme was to enhance the knowledge and skills of taxi and tour bus operators in order to strengthen their capacity to effectively interact with visitors and thereby improve the island’s tourism product.
He said the marketing and promotion of the programme was executed with the assistance of the Ministry of Tourism. It was also the major financial sponsor of the programme, while the Technical and Vocational Education Training Council provided some of the funding.†(NC)
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