BY: NADALEEN SINGH
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – The global financial crisis, the H1N1 virus and transportation woes on the airbridge and lack of foreign direct investment in Tobago combined are stagnating tourism on the island. Members of the Tobago Hotels Association say that there’s a definite reduction in the number of visitors to the island. They say that business activity is low or stagnant from Monday to Wednesday, and they are dependent on visitors from Trinidad on the weekend to survive.
Sean Clarke, resort manager, Plantation Beach Villas Ltd, said that there have been cancellations as Caribbean Airlines has only scheduled 20 flights to Tobago for the week. Clarke who runs six villas, which can accommodate six people each, said his enterprise took a huge “blow” on Labour Day weekend (June 19). “Last public holiday, there were three out of six villas cancelled because the guest could not reach on time. The system that the ferry lodges bookings is not computerised and, on the long weekends, the locals are being told they cannot go to Tobago because there are no flights and ferry tickets,” Clarke said. Oswald Williams, secretary of tourism, Tobago House of Assembly (THA), said Caribbean Airlines is responsible for the challenges on the airbridge.
“In recent times, Caribbean Airlines has begun to schedule flights to Barbados, Suriname and Guyana and the aircraft given to them, have not been used for that purpose. “The challenge is when there’s a long weekend or increase in operations, the airline does not have the capacity to handle increases.” Williams said. Williams he is amazed that the stakeholders in tourism are complaining about problems on the ferry as the ferry service is expanded and more trips are added to meet demand.
Caribbean Airlines responds:
Laura Asbjornsen, communications manager, said Caribbean Airlines does cater for the volume of visitors, including domestic ones, travelling between T&T. “Caribbean Airlines offers 20 flights a day, and if there’s a special event like football, the airline often tries to add more flights due to public demand and reliability of the fleet,” Asbjornsen said.
Ageing historical sites
Carol Ann Birchwood-James, president, Tobago Hotels and Tourism Association (THTA), said historical sites and the capital, Scarborough, should be improved. She said most tourists are aware of the history of the destination they are travelling to, so they look for the attractions. “Apart from the Esplanade, there’s nothing to attract tourists to Scarborough, there should be more restaurants, shopping. They come to Tobago to shop and to visit historical sites. There should be new buildings, better pavements,” said Birchwood-James.
She said the Tobago Chamber assists in marketing efforts, since more rooms occupied means more business for proprietors. Birchwood-James said it’s not all doom and gloom for the tourism sector, as Tobago still has domestic tourism to rely on. “Tobago is not in a bad position in comparison to its Caribbean counterparts, as it relies on the domestic market, while other territories rely on Europe and the US markets.” The Tobago Heritage Festival is scheduled to take place between July 17 to August 1, and Birchwood-James is hopeful that the event will lure visitors to Tobago.
H1N1 virus
The H1N1 virus is another problem, which the THTA admits is affecting occupancy, with Trinidadians cancelling reservations, but the THTA is hopeful of a turnaround in bookings. “The association hopes to stem the tide of the pandemic and also hopes that visitors will be reminded that it’s a global problem,” said Birchwood-James.
Birchwood-James said members usually make most of their revenue between July and August, but they started noticing a shortfall about two weeks ago.
She said the authorities should educate the public, through the electronic media, that it’s safe to vacation in Tobago. Clarke, of Plantation Villas, said the hysteria or panic is greater in Trinidad than it is in Tobago, which is contributing to domestic cancellations. Duane Kenny, general manager, The Villas at Stonehaven, said international bookings have not been affected by H1N1, which the World Health Organisation had labelled a “pandemic.”
Kenny, son of Angostura executive Kevin Kenny, said the media has made H1N1 bigger than what it really was. “Yes, there are cases, but the health authorities here have handled it very well,” Kenny said. He said the perception in Trinidad is that Tobago has many cases, which led to cancellations of local bookings.
Global economic downturn
Kenny said the economic downturn has made it difficult to project bookings. “We could not see down the road. You are seeing next month’s bookings this month, but you cannot see further than that. January was worrying, since we were not even seeing bookings for the next year. It’s customary to see the bookings for the next year.” Clarke said local visitors get the discounted rate, and now that Tobago’s tourism sector is dependent on domestic visitors, he is facing a 25 per cent loss in revenue compared to last year. Despite the shortfall in earnings, Clarke said he will not be retrenching any of his employees. “Employees have been here since 1991. As long as you have business, your employees will not be affected,” Clarke said.
Promoting Tobago
Kevin Kenny, president, Trinidad Hotels, Restaurants and Tourism Association, has called for $150 million to be spent to promote tourism. He said the Internet should be utilised more to promote Tobago’s tourism sector. “Significant amounts of money should be spent on advertising on new media, such as Expedia and Travelocity. The way people shop is through the Internet,” Kenny said.
Gone are the days when people browsed through magazines in search of travel destinations, Kevin Kenny said. Duane Kenny said Tobago’s Crown Point airport should be expanded to accommodate greater volume of traffic at peak time. “When two international flights have touched down at the same time, with a Caribbean Airlines flight, there are not enough Customs officials to deal with the volume, and this results in longer lines,” Duane Kenny said.
He said the airport should be opened for longer hours to prevent visitors from having to spend one night in Trinidad before connecting to their final destination in Tobago. Tourism secretary Williams said steps are being taken to further market Tobago as a destination. “We’ve just completed the budget here. We would have to ask for more funding. Domestically, we have been allowed to ask for more, but we may not get it because of the cutbacks,” Williams said. Williams said stakeholders should not worry too much as the THA is committed to ensuring the tourism sector stays afloat. He said efforts are being made to ensure that there would be a reversal of declining arrival trends. The Tourism Department at the THA is expected to host a road show starting today (ending July 11) to promote domestic tourism.
Real estate
Richard Saunders, president of Association of Real Estate Agents (AREA), said his members are noticing downward trends in tourist arrivals. Pointing to foreign investment in Tobago, Saunders said members of AREA have been waiting since February 2007 for the Government to pass the Land Licensing Act, which will stimulate foreign investment. According to the Foreign Investment Tobago Lands Acquisition Order 2007, which became effective February 16, 2007, “The island of Tobago is declared an area for which a foreign investor shall first obtain a licence under the act before acquiring any land in Tobago.
“No licence has been issued by Government since the order was signed in February 2007. As at July 2009, no licence procedure has yet been put in place, and we are told that it will be October before it is activated,” Saunders said in a statement. “The foreigners buy high-priced property, and the lower-priced ones are traded locally, but that business has evaporated with the licencing regime,” Saunders said.
Government responds:
Finance Minister Karen Tesheira said she is aware of the concerns with regard to the room stock in Tobago. She said she plans to take a note to Cabinet concerning the Land Licencing Act.
“We will be looking at simplifying the mechanism for the grant of licences to foreign investors, simplifying the process, and I think we have reached agreement. I don’t want to be preemptive on that, but I know it will be very much simplified, and the timeframe for so doing has been substantially cut down,” Tesheira said.
She said a target of two months has been set to come forward with a proposal for the sector that all stakeholders will be pleased with.
Tesheira’s comments were made last week at the post-Cabinet press conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s.
