The Montserrat Tourism Division, Office of the Premier, will be implementing an upgraded data capture system to survey visitors to the island. The Tourism Intelligence Solution (TIS) is designed by the Grenada-based company, Sonover, and is a destination intelligence solution designed to help analyze visitor’s data.
“The Tourism Division previously had access to the TIS via an OECS-funded programme in 2019,” commented Warren Solomon, Director of Tourism. “We were able to test the Visitor Survey Analytics last year and were pleased with its functionality, as it would allow us to get a better profile of the visitors to Montserrat, their perceptions of the destination and an estimate of their expenditure while on-island,” he added. The TIS is currently in use by the Grenada Tourism Authority and the St Lucia Tourism Authority.
Sonover commenced its operations in Grenada in 2014 by its local co-founders. The team brings over 30 years of experience in software development and its services are geared primarily towards governments, non-profit organizations, and other business entities within the corporate sector who aim to achieve and improve the efficiency of their operations.
“Although the system was tested at the ferry terminal and targeted cruise passengers and day-trippers, the Visitor Survey programme would be expanded to include air arrivals,” said Product Development Officer at the Tourism Division, Rosetta West-Gerald. She continued, “This would provide direction for future marketing activities, as well as highlight any corrective measures that may be required as it pertains to our service delivery.”
The Tourism Division views this as a critical tool for obtaining first-hand feedback from the island’s guests, which it will share with its stakeholders on a monthly basis. This sentiment was shared by the Head of Montserrat’s Statistics Department, Sylvan Roberts, who commented: “We welcome this development since the database generated will yield extremely useful information that will be used in other key areas such as our National Accounts Statistics.”
The Visitor Survey programme will commence during the week of January 13, 2020.
