Tourism soul-searching still needed in Tobago

When it comes to tourism in Tobago, there was bad news last week.

Though many covid19 restrictions have been relaxed and airlines have returned, international arrivals have not reverted to pre-2020 levels.

Tashia Burris, the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Secretary of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation, said between January and April there were 2,392 arrivals, a decline of 80.8 per cent when compared with the same period in 2019.

These figures, presented by Ms Burris in response to a question from Minority Leader Kelvon Morris at the assembly last Thursday, all but shatter the idea that a rebound in Tobago tourism will be an easy, straightforward matter.

Compounding the difficulties faced by the sector are the questions that arise from the tourism secretary’s further disclosure of almost $8 million being spent on marketing during the lockdown period when the border was closed.

“Numbers do not lie and it’s clear to me as secretary that we are not presently seeing returns on investments and these investments,” Ms Burris said, accusing the Tobago Tourism Agency of rubber-stamping payments.

Equally disheartening is that what little traffic Tobago does receive seems to come on the tailwind of other neighbouring destinations, with many passengers on flights coming out of the UK preferring to disembark at destinations such as Antigua or Barbados instead of Tobago.

What this all suggests is that domestic tourism is set to remain the bulwark of the sector in the near future and, if the approach does not change, for some time to come.

But Tobago’s slow recovery is hardly novel. While international tourist arrivals have returned to an upward trajectory this year, the truth is the global travel industry has not returned to 2019 levels.

Decades of confident growth were effectively erased in the single year of 2020, when international arrivals fell to around 403 million, the lowest figure recorded since 1989, according to the Statista Research Department.

This is of little comfort, however, to the people in Tobago who depend on tourism for their livelihoods.

While arrivals remain in the doldrums, tourism infrastructure continues literally to crumble. The proposed sale of the Magdalena Grand hotel by the State has surprised no one. In March, the hotel was knocked by a visitor for structural damage, rusted gym equipment, a caved-in roof and mouldy food.

Around $50 million in state funding was allocated in October last year to help hotels.

But that is not enough, at least according to Ms Burris’s boss, THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine. At the relaunch of the famed Kariwak Hotel as a “wellness” centre in April, Mr Augustine mooted the possibility of a liquidity line to businesses with at least a 30-month moratorium before payments are due.

Yet reviving the industry is not just a matter of financing. Nor is it confined to erecting new buildings, such as the Comfort Inn & Suites in Scarborough.

It is also a question of finding Tobago’s brand and using that to compete. That’s the soul-searching that remains outstanding.