I had to laugh at the results of a Postimees survey published yesterday. It asked the question: "What can we use to attract tourists to Estonia?" The following is a breakdown of the responses.49% - Beautiful natural environment
17% - Good service
11% - Low prices
9% - Sights of historical interest
6% - Friendly and attractive people
5% - Cultural events
3% - Nice museums
Can you guess which answers made me chuckle? Obviously I agree with every other respondent about how beautiful the country is, and I wouldn't even argue the point about the locals being friendly or things being cheap (although clearly the majority of those who answered don't live in Tallinn).
What surprises me most is that almost one in every five people believe that the standard of service in Estonia is good enough to attract tourists. True, things are improving, particularly on the restaurant and cafe scene. But let me share this little vignette with you about a recent trip to the one and only local franchise of T.G.I. Friday's. You can take the part of the waitress if you like.
Us: "Excuse me, miss, these fries are cold."
Her: [with a smile and a ridiculous hat] "Oh."
Us: "Can you take them back and bring us some hot ones?"
Her: [still with a smile] "Sorry, no."
Us: [shocked silence as we look from one person to another]
Her: [still smiling]
Us: "Then we won't pay for them."
Her: [smiles, shrugs and walks away]
:(
2 comments:
It might be that the people answering the survey meant we COULD attract more tourists by making the service better...
Yeah right, a much better service will drastically improve tourist attraction here in Estonia.
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