THA, don’t spend that $60m

The THA bought two hotels in 2015: Manta Lodge at Speyside and Sanctuary Villas at Black Rock – then left them to rot.

The Tobago tourism division was approached to buy the properties when their mortgages were not being serviced.

It’s been estimated that it will now cost $70 million to revive them. With Sanctuary Villas, the THA faces an eye-watering price tag of $60 million to return the property to useful service. Plans to refurbish Manta Lodge have been part of the THA budget since 2018, with no action.

Five years after they were acquired, there is no plan to turn the $32 million investment into a profitable business.

But that isn’t a top-tier mission of the THA, which should more sensibly be engaged in creating environments that encourage commerce instead of dabbling in it themselves. How does a sizeable expenditure to repair two faltering hotel properties fit in with the challenge of rebuilding Tobago’s shattered tourism economy, already on its knees before covid19?

In September 2019, tour operator Thomas Cook collapsed. The agency was responsible for a significant portion of travel to Tobago and provided a familiar conduit for travellers from the UK and Europe.

It’s unclear how successful efforts at creating replacement tourism channels were before tourism travel stopped. In March, Tobago Tourism Agency CEO Louis Lewis acknowledged the need for the country’s tourism sector to reassess its competitiveness.

But in a fiscal year of constrained resources, the THA is unlikely to get much traction for increased budgets. This is not a time to be spending massive sums on old tourism models that weren’t working well before covid19 gutted global tourism.

The Tobago Tourism Agency is faced with a difficult challenge. It must redevelop its tourism product on a tight budget and craft a coherent and appealing strategy delivered in demonstrably safe circumstances.

Any future tourism engagement emerging from the current hiatus of air travel will bring significant changes in protocols. Current refurbishment plans must refocus infrastructure on the expectations of visitors aware of the risks of infection, and demonstrate a capacity to robustly manage such concerns.

Most nations are planning for limited regional tourism first, and Tobago is wisely planning to woo visitors from Trinidad in the short term.

The outlook for the regional tourism industry is not good. Losses due to tourism decline may be high as 70 per cent of GDP for regional states like The Bahamas and Barbados.

TT is fortunate to have a better financial buffer than many Caribbean countries. But Tobago must design a compelling tourism product and spend its repair and refurbishment dollars wisely to effectively court the expectations of tourism customers post-covid19.