Be thankful and embrace the opportunities

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Introduction

We do not have any natural resources, but we do have some of the best beaches in the world. As a result, we can attract thousands of tourists to our islands. We are in the month of July and tourists are still coming in high numbers. In the past, we used to the say the high season was from November to April. Nowadays, it looks like the high season has extended to the month of July.

Be thankful

Let us be thankful for the tourists that have selected the Turks and Caicos as their choice. They had many options, but they chose us. In showing thanks to our tourists, let us show kindness towards them. Even if they are not friendly towards us, still be friendly towards them. If you are in your vehicle and tourists are trying to cross the road, stop and let them go. If you are passing them, simply say good morning or good afternoon. Some of them will not respond but you did your part. Be the best customer service person you can be. Treat them the way you want to be treated. Smile and be sincere in your smile. It broke my heart when I read some of the comments from some tourists saying how rude some of us are. Of course, there are some rude tourists too, but we don’t have to be like them.

Whether we want to admit it or not, we need the tourists more than they need us. Our only industry is tourism. The job that you and I have exists because of the tourists. Everything in our country basically comes from tourism dollars. Let us not take this industry for granted. Let us act like we know how important and fragile this industry is.

For the past year or two, we have seen an unprecedented growth in African American tourists to the islands. Some people do complain about them, but they are guests, and we should still be thankful for them too.  They fill up villas, they use taxis, they rent cars, they eat at restaurants and in so doing they help you and me.

With all these tourists coming here, I encourage you to embrace the opportunities. There are many business opportunities to cater for tourists.

Conclusion

Because I know what it is like to hardly any tourists come to your island, I am more than grateful for the tourists that come to the Turks and Caicos Islands. We are in a strategic location. We have multiple flights coming to Providenciales. We are beautiful by nature. Each of our islands has a distinct flavour.

I know we need to diversify our economy but right now and in the years to come, tourism will be always be our number one industry.