Vanterpool blasts locals who treat tourists badly
As the territory remains on track to exceed half-million visitors by the end of 2022, one legislator has called out residents who give poor customer service to visitors.
Fourth District Representative Mark Vanterpool said he has intimate knowledge of the poor treatment that is sometimes meted out to visitors because he has had to solve disputes of that nature before.
“You might find a few bad eggs among our visitors. But let’s treat them right! Let’s welcome them to the Virgin Islands. I don’t know how we spell the word ‘welcome’ sometimes. I don’t know how we understand it. But I have had to be in some situations to mitigate and to referee – even up to this year – situations where persons want to come to the Virgin Islands to do sailing and they are treated like hooligans,” Vanterpool stated.
According to Vanterpool, visitors are oftentimes frustrated by the number of government departments with which they have to interact to be compliant with local laws.
He also bemoaned the service of some Customs and Immigration officers who treat tourists as suspects without a reason.
“I don’t know if some Customs and Immigration officers are misunderstanding their training — like you must start from the suspicious to the good instead of from good to suspicious. I don’t know what kind of training they’ve received,” Vanterpool said emphatically.
Tourism is one of the main economic earners in the BVI and often causes corresponding growth in other areas of the economy such as the wholesale and retail industry as well as food and accommodation services.
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But what about tourists that treat locals badly?
start from top especially those in charge of tourism. they are the worse
Immigration thinks that every tourist who comes in is a criminal..
I went into one mart the other day and I almost faint when I see the prices on the screen. I thought I was in rite way. Why the prices mark up so? To pay for the sale that just took place? Hmm, I going back rite way if that’s the case.
Do no harm but take no sh*t
RED CARPET FOR OUTSIDERS
MINI ME STORE IS ONE OF THEM, THE GUY IN THERE ARE VERY ARROGANT AND RUDE AND SOMETIMES ABUSIVE AND HE IS NOT EVEN LOCAL
It’s the national sport since at least the 90s. How many times has Customs and Immigration attended customer service courses…?
Love comes from within if they don’t treat their Caribbean brothers and Sisters right , how can they treat tourists any better. Love and respect start from inside out not from outside in , charity should begin at home first!!
Always wrong!
Vote this man out next election!!!!!!!!!!!
That is Universal. Try entering their countries.
It is the nature of the job.
Assume until proven otherwise.
Hence there are forms to be completed ,questions to be answered and luggage and person searches.
Many countries the Officers are also armed.
You are aptly “clueless”
The Caribbean “brothers” and sisters for that matter are the worse.
They murder thief fight and rampage predictably.They are literally the worse of traveling humanity, no matter where they go more of them and their children have occupancy in the
Prisons and assylums of other countries.
@ Understood
They are our guests, and our Bread and Butter. How difficult is that to Understand?
Stop talking Mark….you enjoyed tax money for ….how many years and didn’t work for it you’re not better than Drew…..
Is the fat cabbie still sitting on the bench outside the airport insulting all the arriving (white) guests? Lucky he didn’t get his fat azz knocked out…..I though better as his brother probably chief of police.
I have traveled to numerous countries and I must say, I have never met a more unwelcoming set of immigration officers than those here. There are a few kind and caring ones but they are in the minority.
You can be pleasant and polite and still very serious about your work. The way many of these immigration officers behave would give the impression that tourism is not a major income earner for the territory.
If you are not a “people person”, you should not be the first one a visitor interacts with when he or she comes to your country. People such as those should be assigned to the proposed detention centre.
Many BVI’landers are great, and the “customer is always rght”, but a few are “me local” and tat attitude turns off the best of tourists.
If you want the BVI to gain independence, and maintain financial stability, you need to roll out the red carpet for our guests
While a few of our immigration and customs officers are unwelcoming, I would say that now the majority are not. The system sucks though, I stand in the line of BVIslanders at the airport and frankly I am embarrassed that tourists are waiting far longer than me.
Check your own service that you give. Your super Market is good. But your restaurant,especially them Spanish ladies you have, they have no idea about restaurant, no idea of service. You need to make sure you trained your workers at the Rest..
When last mark ever here anything about issues about immigration and customs behavior. Stop it mark, stop playing politics. You only bringing more and more problem to this country. Your bringing up thing of the past. Lets be real and honest. It is obvious that election is around the corner. Virgin islands( uk) is a place a lot call home let’s do our best to make it better.these blogs reaches miles and miles away. Let me leave this message, if customs would do there job properly and search many of you politicians when entering what they will discover is another story. Things must change one day. Have anyone ever notice for years all these leaders and politicians never talk about putting an X-Ray screening system in place upon arrival. Why is that.
This came from a guest who had been a customer of mine, Friday 23rd Dec:
“I will spare you all the mishaps, lack of good info and general lack of people giving a crap about us in general (although we over paid and tried to over tip everyone we meet)
-But yesterday was just unbelievable…..
To make a long story short, we were leaving a day early to get home to before the snow storm that will make traveling back to the States almost impossible for the next few day. We got to the ferry terminal at 9:30am with plans to leave on the (Native Son LLC) at 11:00am for St. Thomas. The girl at the desk when we purchased our ticket, could not have been more rude, and on a personal call (but no big deal, that fine with us) we just wanted to buy our ticket and get to St. Thomas, but when we asked her where we should wait for the ferry she told us back to the right (which we now know is only for BVI islands ferry’s, not the St. Thomas Ferry) because we finally ask why the ferry was late and were informed me missed it because we were on the wrong side of the dock. The woman at the front desk literally laughed at us, we talked to her supervisor who tried to arrange a personal ferry at 2pm cutting it super close to making our flight, if he was right on time. (of course, he was 45 mins late, and after all this time and (a super expensive ride from Tortola over to St. Thomas) by the time we got to St. Thomas we missed our flight home (the last one out before the big storm) with no other flights out now and will most certainly miss Christmas with our family, (as I write this, we are sitting in a room at the hotel next to the airport currently) while we try and get home over the next serval days.
I guess I’m telling you this for 2 reasons, one I love the Virgin Island (St. Johns is my favorite) but wanted to try the BVI for our honeymoon. (What a mistake that turned out to be) I love the island itself, and the handful of great people but I have never seen more people less interested in helping other people who don’t know where to go. Even a sign or anything telling us what side to go on would have avoided this whole thing! -P.S. the airline at the St. Thomas airport said this happens all the time with the Ferry’s from Tortola! (The airline person said, “it almost feels like they do this on purposes”….I’m not kidding) In the end, I guess my suggestion for the handful of great people that care about the island (like yourself) should/might consider putting together website (FAQ, best practices and most importantly how to navigate the ferry’s) Lastly, I guess I just wanted to let someone who cares about others know how a visitor’s experience can go and that your great info is NOT reaching customers via the hotel.
In closing, Thanks again for your xxxx it was really the only truly good memory in the BVI’s we will take with us (which is kinda sad because this was our honeymoon) and clearly, we will not be back (unless something major changes) because clearly the BVI’s don’t want us/visitors to come in the first place.”
Think he easy lol worse than drew by far!
I’m sorry but when have we gone above and beyond for tourism customer service? Labor dumps people into positions they are ill suited for and have no experience. Yet we expect them to perform and deliver exceptional customer service?
Nope.
BVI has never been able offer it
Mr. Vanterpool, please look from within the BVI government employ if you want to speak of those who are treating “visitors”with contempt and arrogance. For many years now my family and I have spent approximately 5 months within the territory and up to 5 years ago we were greeted and respected by most government officials. Now 5 years later, we find that from the onset of arrival, to getting our post 30 day exemption, to importing our vessel, (and I could go on) has been nothing but a miserable experience and a total public relations nightmare for your government and it’s efforts to enhance the tourist experience. Please Sir, if you really want to make a difference, then just take a look inside from the outside. Or better yet, walk the docks and talk to the people who keep their vessels at Nanny Cay; they are the ones who will tell you how it is , like it is.
I take offense to the headlines – blasting locals in general instead of ‘some locals and residents.’
I also take offense to the politicians who sit on the mercy seat, the HOA, and use that as their platform to throw out at members of the general public, knowing that in there they have political immunity. I find it to be downright disgusting.
And as for district representatives who abandon their constituents but have the guts to go within those sacred halls, loudly representing ‘my people’ – well, that’s another story for another time.
@inside it works both ways.
As a resident of this territory, I sincerely apologize to you for this unfortunate incident.
Customer service generally sucks in this country and it’s a turn off to both locals and visitors. As a country that relies so heavily on the service industry, we need to do better. Unfortunately, too many can’t see the connection.
Two wrongs don’t make a right.
just the spaniards, the expats from down the islands are very in need of customer training and common courtesy also.
I was very embarrassed at the location there at the water front the other night.
The lady like she was operating from a pig sty dealing with pig lets. It was quite embarassing..
Mr. Vanterpool, It is clear that there must be a training division within your employ. There are to many rude and unmannerly employees violating people who simply want to spend a dollar within the business and who sometimes do not because…
If Virgin Gorda airport was bigger. Beef Island airport will be a Ghost Town. I have always heard the the visitors complain about the immigration and customs officers at Beef Island. Most of them don’t want anything to do with Beef Island. Even the private jets visitors.
Belongers are entitled. Place them in a job where they actually have to work and be polite to tourists and we see how inept and incompetent they are. Training would help some but the majority, especially those in government positions, would just fail once again. This a cultural deficit that we fill with expats who know how to properly present themselves and the tourism product
He is so right
but he is one with his high food prices
Sorry to hear of that guy’s experience but to give context, the place I’ve received the worst service was on a ferry from Seattle in the States. They were so abusive to my then pregnant wife that I had to involve the police before we even got an apology. This happens everywhere. That doesn’t make it right but it is not peculiar to the BVi.
My friend’s wife was on a ski trip and asked to use the toilet in a Vail
store. She was laughed at and told “no”. She thought
he was joking and went in. She was in the
middle of her “business” when the guy opened the
door, pulled her off the toilet and threw
her out of the store without her even having time to wipe
herself.
So let’s not make this about BVi. This stuff
happens . It’s abuse and must stop.
This is an interesting message from your guest, however it makes me sad to tell you that nothing will change.
The people are just who they choose to be. The few welcoming souls are genuine but the good stops with them. The ‘barn ya’ ones who act as if you’ve come to steal their crown won’t change.
A guest could have the best of time on the island but one bad experience on departure will keep them from returning. The idea of hospitality is to exceed guests expectation from arrival to departure. Every departing guest should be a returning guest and if this does not happen then the country is at a loss.
I was a visitor on the BVI some time ago and I was insulted surprisingly by a taxi driver in the presence of other taxi drivers who stood by and said nothing. I was pretty shocked, since I did nothing but asked a simple question about parking. If I was a turkey, it seems like they’d all have eaten me for lunch that day. The level of ignorance was rather appalling.
I love the BVI but the people need to make amends with heaven. The resentment they hold for other people who are not from there is crazy!