A new breed of customer service trainer has been created to help Bermuda lift its game and impress visitors enough to make them want to come back again and again.

Twelve people have been trained up as the first certified "SuperHosts" on the Island and they will in turn teach others how to give unparalleled customer care and service based on a highly successful programme that was first used in Canada for the 1986 World Expo.

Since the adoption of SuperHost training in British Columbia more than 800,000 people around the world have attended workshops to learn tips and techniques on how to attain excellence in making visitors and guests feel welcome and special.

But it is only now that the programme has reached Bermuda through a collaboration between the Bermuda Alliance for Tourism, the Visitor Industry Partnership and Bermuda College.

It is the BAT which provided the funding to allow the 12 Bermudian and Bermuda residents to be trained up in a three-day intensive course run by Jenni Hopkyns of Tourism British Columbia.

"We are excited that we have produced for Bermuda 12 certified Bermuda SuperHost Trainers," said Wayne Smith, executive director of BAT.

Barbara O'Shaughnessy, chairwoman of the Visitor Industry Partnership, added: "Introducing SuperHost has been a dream of mine for nearly 20 years and I am so pleased to see it finally come to fruition.

"Now that we have a team of certified trainers, the next step is to schedule the training of the wider community. The Bermuda College has kindly agreed to handle the administration and registration of Bermuda SuperHost and we wish to thank Dr. Eugenie Simmons of PACE-Bermuda College for her commitment to the programme."

SuperHost training has been adopted as a customer service standard for employee training and recruitment and its stated goal is "to enhance the travel experience of visitors such that they are motivated to return".

It is not only tourism-orientated sections of the economy that will benefit from SuperHost training; banks, retail companies, government offices, real estate agents, medical facilities and others have benefited from the training.

The SuperHost "high energy" training workshops involved role-play, group work and brain-storming sessions teaching the importance of effective and efficient communication with customers, attentiveness to customer needs and "going the extra mile."

Mr. Smith said: "Bermuda Chamber of Commerce, Bermuda Department of Tourism and the Bermuda Hotel Association have endorsed the Bermuda SuperHost programme and have made a commitment to implementing the programme in their respective workplaces."