1 week ago
6
A tourist buys local handcraft items from a vendor at the Scarborough port on January 24. FILE PHOTO/VISUAL STYLES
- FORMER president of the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association (THTA) Rene Seepersadsingh believes there must be significant collaboration between the private sector and central government to bring tourist arrivals to the island back to where it used to be more than a decade ago.
During the launch of Unicomer Ltd’s Courts Business Solutions showroom at the Gulf City Mall, Lowlands, Tobago, on August 8, THTA president Reginald MacClean claimed that international tourist arrivals to the island had dropped by 70 per cent.
He recalled when Tobago recorded 90,000-plus arrivals during the 1980s and into the early 2,000’s.
Saying that was no longer the case, MacClean said the island recorded just about 24,500 tourist arrivals last year.
MacClean said the new association, which was installed in April, was willing to lead the charge, with the help of the THA, central government and other stakeholders, to effect a turnaround in the figures.
He said apart from strategies to attract more international airlift, financing availability and investment in Tobago’s tourism sector must be seriously looked at.
“That is very weak and we have had no new projects in more than a decade that has opened in Tobago,” he told Newsday on August 14.
Seepersadsingh, THTA’s first vice-president, claimed the island’s plant also has fallen in terms of the level of quality and service that is required to compete.
“If we are going to turnaround these numbers, it is going to require a couple of things which are not insurmountable. But it requires significant collaboration between the private sector and public sector.”
He said within the past few months the association has been actively involved in highlighting both the challenges confronting tourism and the potential opportunities within the sector.
“The Chief Secretary and Secretary of Tourism have asked us to put together some recommendations for the areas that concern us. And when we did our first release, we addressed some of the operational things on the island – the standing committee on tourism, restructuring of the Tobago Tourism Agency and the money allocated for tourism.”
Seepersadsingh, a director of the popular Jade Monkey Bar & Grill, Crown Point, said the ANR Robinson International Airport, when opened, presents an opportunity for increased airlift “because Tobago is significantly short of international connections.”
He added, “Recently, the Prime Minister (Kamla Persad-Bissessar) would have mentioned Caribbean Airlines, which has always been a source of concern for us because CAL has not really been a major contributor to the development of the tourism industry in Tobago as it should.
“We perennially have problems with airlift. It is no secret. We have actually just one international flight stopping in Tobago from Caribbean Airlines yet it is providing up to 14-plus flights to other Caribbean destinations.”
Seepersadsingh said although CAL’s entire operational cost has been carried by the taxpayers of Trinidad and Tobago, it has not paid much emphasis to the development of the industry in Tobago.
He said the association eagerly awaits the opportunity to hold discussions with the new board.
English (US) ·