Government to refurbish Hilton to grow business tourism

The Government has a four-year property improvement plan for the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre as part of its wider plans to grow business tourism.

It was reported earlier this year that there would be upgrades to the state-owned hotel.

The Government announced in its 2022 budget presentation that 600 rooms would be added to its stock and it also mentioned upgrades to performance spaces such as Queen’s Hall, Naparima Bowl, National Academy for the Performing Arts and the Southern Academy of the Performing Arts.

At the October 2 reading of the 2024 budget presentation, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said the improvement plan for Hilton would position the hotel to compete better, retain costumers for group business, long-stay projects and contract airline crews.

“Upon completion, the hotel will enhance the overall attractiveness of Port of Spain as a location for business tourism, with a workforce of 420 people,” he said.

Speaking to the state of tourism, Imbert said the numbers of visitor arrivals to the country had increased since Trinidad and Tobago reopened its borders in 2021. There was an earlier drop in arrivals because of pandemic restrictions which saw the borders closed.

“Since that time, international visitors have been increasing, with arrivals recording 226,483 in 2022, thereby revitalising the tourism sector.” he said.

He said this trend continued to this year, with visitor arrivals from January-July being 182,508.

The hotel industry benefited from this, and there was a 62 per cent occupancy rate in July 2023, he said. This was the highest rate since February 2020, the last year Carnival was held before being halted by the pandemic.

“We are ensuring that our tourism product becomes increasingly attractive so that destination Trinidad and Tobago remains broadly competitive.

“With the new marketing initiatives we now welcome visitors safely and competently. We are managing and maintaining our cultural and historical assets as attractions for domestic and international tourism.”

Imbert said the Government was investing in marketing and promotion activities by participating in trade shows and conferences in markets such as North America, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.

“We do not doubt that culture draws visitors to destinations like TT. We are thus up scaling our work to towards resurgence and growth of the creative sector.”

As well as upgrades to performance spaces, he also spoke to the recently developed pan theatres such as Desperadoes and Shell Invaders pan theatres. The Ariapita Avenue enhancement project was also mentioned.

Imbert said the Government was supporting tourism accommodation through its core fiscal incentive programme under the TT Tourism Accommodation upgrade project. He added that six applications were being processed for reimbursements related to hotel upgrades.

TT must remain competitive to ensure visitors enjoy an ideal accommodation experience with enhanced potential for return visits, he said.

The Government was also delivering assistance through its Government Loan Guarantee Programme and there were three ongoing projects: Financial Complex Suites Ltd (Radisson Blu), Radisson Trinidad and Bella Forma Resorts Ltd (Coco Reef Resort and Spa).

With the exit of Liat, the region was showing strong air-transport demand and international visitors were on the rise as markets recovered from the effects of the covid 19 pandemic.

He said state-owned Caribbean Airlines (CAL) was aiming to use its assets affectively and establish a foundation for network growth. The airline would expand its fleet to meet the growing demand through the lease of four additional ATR aircrafts and three additional B737-8s.

This would bring the airline's fleet size to a pre-pandemic level, he said.

CAL also planned to lease five jets to service intraregional demand and establish bases and hubs across the region to promote efficiency and cost-reducing measures.

He said CAL was also pursuing cargo operations as an essential revenue source and would lease two ATRs and two B737-800 jet aircraft to do this.