By: Martin George
PORT OF SPAIN – Lying on the white sands of the beach at Montego Bay on Boxing Day, one could not help but observe the numerous aircraft flying in, bringing visitors into Jamaica. Aircraft seemed to be arriving every five minutes, from Jumbo jets, to 727s to private jets, they were all winging in to Montego Bay.
Now, this is separate and apart from those visitors who landed at Kingston. The numbers at Montego Bay alone were staggering when compared to what we masquerade as tourism in Tobago. We have had Excel pull out of Tobago to be replaced by Monarch, and we celebrate this as a victory. I was able to count several different airlines in the space of two hours, all landing at Montego Bay.
No real results
They don’t have all of their foreign tourism hopes hinged to one airline or two, and this at a time when the tourism industry is down because of the worldwide recession.
So it begs the question: is there some deep, dark secret plot somewhere to quietly kill off Tobago’s tourism for some other purpose? You look at the hard evidence and the question must arise. We have the money; we have the resources, natural talent and ability. So why, then, is it that all we have to show is a litany of losses, after billions of dollars have been spent on tourism in Trinidad and Tobago? There must be a plot somewhere to kill tourism in Tobago. There is no other nation in the Caribbean that spends so much money on tourism with so little results.
The TDC, Tidco and whatever earlier manifestations of those millstones of the tourism industry have failed to deliver to meet expectations. There is still that pitched battle between them and the THA’s tourism executives, with both sides rushing to take credit for any little gain and quick to pass the buck when there is any negative fallout. For all the billions of dollars we have spent on tourism in this country, what do we have to show?
We have an elderly Swedish couple murdered at Bon Accord; Queen Latifah and her entourage distressed by a burglary at their villa at Stonehaven; English tourists raped and violated, and an American businessman attacked, beaten and robbed at his villa at Canoe Bay. And as if this were not enough, to add insult to injury, the police seem clueless, and most of these perpetrators are at large, ready, willing and waiting to strike again, and laughing at the police and the nation in the process. Our Christmas staff function was held this year at Stonehaven Villas, and it is, quite possibly, the most elegant and exclusive vacation property in Tobago.
Tobago already has lost the Hilton; does it want to lose Stonehaven, too? Tobago is a small place where, by and large, people still know each other, and can spot a strange face in a village or neighbourhood, so don’t tell me that people out there don’t have the information as to who has been committing these crimes. It is known throughout Tobago that the village of Bethel and its surrounding areas have served as a breeding ground and nesting place for criminals. They descend at nights in droves to the nearby upscale properties at Mt Irvine, Black Rock, Mt Pleasant, Bethany and other districts and wreak havoc.
Leave quietly
Robberies, rapes and other acts are committed with a frequency, intensity and savagery well beyond what is often reported in the media, as most victims just pack up and leave quietly, vowing never to return, and trying as much as possible to avoid the public spectacle of it all. Tourism Secretary Neil Wilson says despite the negatives that have sullied the reputation of Tobago and the negatives as a result of the global recession, Tobago was still regarded.
It continued to hold attraction for most Britons, but said there was a decline in visitor arrivals from the UK, because of the pull-out of Excel, which was the single greatest provider of British traffic to Tobago. Now, compare this to the traffic volumes that Montego Bay is doing; compare it also to Princess Juliana Airport in St Maarten, where I was able to observe aircraft arriving every four minutes or so, and were actually stacking and queuing up to land?
After all the billions of dollars, all the ole talk, the rhetoric and grandstanding, with little or no results to show, what then can we conclude about our tourism situation, other than there may really be a plot to kill off tourism in Tobago?
