Hoteliers: Why no mention of Tobago?

Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association vice-president Carol-Ann Birchwood-James says she is disappointed there was no mention of plans to revive the Tobago economy at Finance Minister Colm Imbert’s news conference on Wednesday.

“He has not said anything. So, you have Tobago, with no economy at this time, except what the THA pays its workers,” she told Newsday.

At the news conference, Imbert revealed the country fell way below its projected revenue for the first four months of fiscal 2021.

This reality, he said, meant the Government must make tough fiscal choices to preserve jobs and maintain essential government services. Imbert said the government also was not in a position to accede to calls by trade unions for wage increases and outstanding backpay.

Birchwood-James said some mention should have been made of plans to boost Tobago’s economy in the midst of the covid19 pandemic, which has virtually shut down the island’s tourism-based economy and put workers in the hospitality sector on the breadline.

She said when the borders reopen to the international market, Tobago must be in a position to welcome foreigners. The Foreign Investment Act must be amended, she said, to reduce the bureaucracy so that foreigners could buy land in Tobago.

“I am saying that we have to be prepared to let foreigners buy land here. But nobody has time to go through all of that red tape to buy a piece of land in Tobago.“We have already earmarked land that they can buy, not in villages but places like Tobago Plantations and some of those other high-end developments in Mt Irvine and Bacolet.”

Birchwood-James said Imbert’s news conference did not offer hope.

“He needs not to talk about how he is going to be drawing down on our little Heritage (Fund)that we have, but how we are going to resurrect this economy called Tobago and Trinidad.

“We have to find ways of talking about the Tobago economy and the foreign exchange.”