Former Tobago Hotel and Tourism executive: Bring back standing committee on tourism

FORMER Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association vice-president Carol-Ann Birchwood-James has called for the re-establishment of the standing committee on tourism to help address issues affecting the air and sea bridge.

She made the call on August 29 at a stakeholder consultation on inter-island transportation and connectivity at Mt Irvine Bay Resort, Tobago

The event dealt with the challenges often experienced by passengers in travelling between the two islands.

On August 20, thousands of passengers experienced disruptions to their travel when 60 flights were cancelled after some 75 pilots called in sick. The situation on the airbridge has since returned to normal.

Days later, a fire onboard the cargo vessel Cabo Star stranded passengers at sea for 17 hours. The vessel has been removed from service pending further investigation.

During the question and answer segment, Birchwood-James said the standing committee, which was established by late prime minister Patrick Manning, had made significant strides in dealing with problems within the tourism sector, particularly inter-island transportation.

Orville London was the chief secretary at the time and Tracy Davidson-Celestine, the secretary of tourism.

“We made great strides with that committee because the power of the prime minister and the chief secretary at that time to summon Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL) and Port Authority, Customs, T&TEC, was great,” she said.

Birchwood-James said the committee, which included representatives from CAL, found solutions to many of the problems in the sector.

“We need to get back that standing committee.”

But she added there must be some measure of diplomacy between central government and the THA to arrive at workable solutions.

“We need to tone down ourselves. Not all the time we could quarrel across the water. We need diplomacy and we need to sit down with the Prime Minister, with our transport agencies and work out a solution with level-headedness.

“Let is start working on it. Let us put our diplomacy together. That standing committee is our first area of getting some kind of normalcy to what we have here.”

Birchwood-James also suggested that THA representatives be included on the boards of CAL and the TT Inter-island Transportation Company.

“You cannot send yes people down there. You have to send people when they stand up and talk, others listen.”

She said the tourism association had a very good relationship with CAL but that was not the case today.

Regarding the Port of Port of Spain, Birchwood-James recalled she fell out with the then CEO some years ago over the accommodation that was provided for people travelling to Tobago, especially the old and physically-challenged.

She said there is need for “dynamic people” on both boards.

In response, Augustine said the standing committee dissolved when Orville London left office.

But he said it could be re-established.

“On our end, we could begin to set it up because the players are pretty much prescribed already. So if we pull the people together and invite them to come, they either say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’

Augustine said he would also ask the Prime Minister to be a part of it.

He also said the THA has never been invited to nominate anyone to the boards of CAL of the TT Inter-Island Transportation Company.

“Those boards by statute does not see that the THA gets to make an appointment to those boards. So it is really at the benevolence of the government if they are going to invite us to nominate someone to those boards or not and we have never been invited to do so.”