Colm: Virgin lured by $21m incentive

SOME $21 million will be spent this year to persuade Virgin Airlines to fly passengers to Tobago, Finance Minister Colm Imbert told the House of Representatives’ Standing Finance Committee on Friday. Some $16 million will be paid to British Airways, he added.

Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh had asked the nature of a rolling three-year tourism plan listed in budget documents for statutory bodies and the Tobago House of Assembly (THA). The document allocates $40 million to Tobago this year, on top of $40 million last year and $42 million the year prior, totalling some $122 million over the past three years.

Imbert said the bulk of this year’s sum was to buy airlift, that is, to persuade those foreign airlines to come to Tobago.

Gopeesingh pressed, “You pay an incentive to come to Tobago? Is it meeting its objective?” Imbert replied, “Yes, and yes.” He promised to supply more details, and added, “Antigua does it. All the other islands purchase airlift.”

Imbert punctuated his replies to queries with jovial invitations to Opposition MPs to visit Tobago, especially to partake of its Blue Food Festival.

He said the $40 million included $700,000 to Caribbean Airlines and $2 million to the certified Tour Guide Association.

Imbert was glad to fund the Tobago Heritage Festival with $20 million. “I’m overjoyed. If I could give more I would.”

He defended a $20 million allocation to the Tobago Tourism Agency, Couva North MP Ramona Ramdial asked about a slight drop in allocation to Tobago Tourism Festivals from $18 million last year to $15 million this year.

Imbert replied it is the same as the 2017 sum.

Chaguanas East MP Fazal Karim asked about the Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute, and whether it is linked to a proposed University of Tobago. Imbert said discussions for such an university are at an embryonic stage, and he would need details from its promoters. He said the hospitality institute is not linked to the University of Trinidad and Tobago. Of a $7 million allocation to Studley Park Quarry Enterprises Limited, he said this private company will run the quarry in place of the THA.

Asked about an apparent $71 million decrease in the allocation to the Tobago Regional Health Authority, Imbert said an extra $100 million had been given in last year’s Mid Year Review. “There was back-pay in 2017 and in 2018, but none for 2019.”