Tobago welcomes news of possible construction sector reopening

Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association vice president Carol Ann Birchwood-James has said the Government's decision to reopen the construction sector will at least begin the process of reviving Tobago's economy.

The effects of the covid19 pandemic, which has been in existence for the past 16 months, continues to devastate Tobago's economy.

At a news conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's on Saturday, the Prime Minister said the country cannot continue to be on lockdown indefinitely and it is now at the phase where citizens must learn to live with the virus.

He said the construction sector will likely be reopened in the first week of July.

Dr Rowley said approximately 15,000 people in the sector have already been vaccinated.

Birchwood-James welcomed the news.

“That is very good news. Fifteen thousand people vaccinated, those are pretty good numbers given that we still have so much vaccine hesitancy,” she told Newsday. Birchwood-James said many people are on the breadline.

“Many of them do not have food and access to money because they are not working.”

She was also excited about the news of a possible reopening of the borders in mid July.

“It will not only be good news for us in the tourism sector for the members of the population who are still out there suffering and want to come home.

On the weekend's extended curfew, Birchwood-James said Labour Day and Father’s Day were two “wasted days.”

“If you are saying vaccination is our way out of this and not lockdown, it means then that we should have vaccinated throughout the weekend and we should have had a programme for tourism to encourage fathers to be vaccinated.

“That would have been our Father’s Day mantra – to get more people vaccinated because we have a limited number of vaccines.

“The sooner we do that, it would be the better for all of us.”

Birchwood-James said a significant number of workers in the tourism sector have already received their first shot of the Sinopharm vaccine.

Vaccinations for workers in the tourism and construction sectors in Tobago began last Thursday and Friday at the Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf Resort in Lowlands.