Hope to see you soon, Bahamas!

As an event planner (in my previous profession), experience always taught me the significance of customer feedback/ personal impressions and how it would affect organizing future events. So, when I first started this journey to the Bahamas, knowing that I was participating both as a customer and a researcher, I felt I had to be more aware of my surroundings and try to document as much as I could to capture all the details on this trip. On the other hand, I’d also had to constantly remind myself to strike a balance in between, learn to let go and be able to enjoy the experience as a tourist too.

Customer experience is such a subjective topic to measure. Many times, you’d see long questionnaires being used to study customer behavior and most of the time you do not get all truthful answers as customers lose interest and just want to complete these tedious forms as soon as possible. I believe I have been very fortunate to attend this course as I’ve learned there are different techniques to gather data (i.e. participation observation, peak experience) in such a manner where it does not impose the customers or take up too much of their time and you have sufficient data to use to support your findings.

Another key point that I learned is you need to be very flexible when it comes to using different approaches to tackle a research. The tools and materials can be fluid and change all the time. It might seem frustrating at times, however, once you find the right formula and add in the right factors, everything gets easier.

Patience is a virtue, and in this case, especially on this 10-day trip, has been tested many times throughout our experience in the Bahamas. Adjusting to concept of “island time” was probably one of the most challenging things I had to do. Nevertheless, it did teach me to be even more patient in many situations. Now I get to exercise my patience a lot with my three-year old son. J (hehehe)

My experience in the Bahamas is one I will always remember. It is such a beautiful country with beautiful natural attractions, unique culture and very friendly people. I only had the opportunity to explore Nassau, but I’ve been told by many locals that the surrounding islands are even more spectacular. 

The beautiful creations in the Junkanoo Festival

 There is so much potential in this country that has not been tapped into, as I wish and pray that any organization that is responsible for tourism take into account and consider the approach for sustainable development for their beaches and islands as well as promote Bahamian culture as an authentic marketing plan to attract more tourists. I say this with such passion, because I believe there is so much the Bahamas has to offer and I would love to come back with my family and visit again.