From the Western Star:
Sometimes, you hear complaints about the lack of professionalism in this province’s tourism industry — about the way that standards, quality and the skills and training of tourism staff vary wildly, depending on which establishment you go to.
Three different bed and breakfasts will have three different levels of service and three different prices — and the ones that offer the best experience aren’t necessarily the ones with the best price, either.
It’s something that makes operators pull their hair out — they hear about the mistakes and miscues of others from their own patrons, and wonder just how the industry can guarantee a basic level of quality. It’s an organic thing, really; operators who figure out the right standards will stay in business in the long run, while eventually the under-equipped and the unprepared will fall by the wayside.
In the process, there’s always the fear that a critical number of tourists will visit once, have a bad experience and never come back again — and worse, that they’ll tell their friends and neighbours, who will then not even show up for that first visit.
Now, there are places that elevate tourism to a near art — try Niagara Falls on for size — where every single employee is drilled to wish you a good morning, even if you make eye contact for only a fraction of a second, even if you’re merely passing their establishment and not coming in.