Promoters working to assure patron safety at events

The TT Promoters Association (TTPA) said it assures people that it will continue to invest in ensuring they are safe when they attend events in Trinidad, in spite of the ongoing state of emergency (SoE). It said the event industry is not a proxy for criminality in TT.

The statements were made by TTPA advocate Paige De Leon at a media conference on January 15 at Queen’s Hall to discuss the upcoming TT Carnival and the association’s global stakeholder plan.

Asked about the safety of locals and visitors while attending events, De Leon said, “We are not obtuse to the fact that there is a perception that TT is an unsafe place. We all live here, we know what the realities are, but we do have to continue with our lives and continue to do what we need to do, because as the authorities indicated, the economic activity of the country cannot halt.

“We have to work with it and do everything we can to ensure when people come to our events they are, in fact, safe. We’re here today to give the assurance we are doing everything humanly possible to make sure of that.”

De Leon said 2025 is themed as the Year of International Musical Co-operation.

TTPA president Richard Thompson said, according to promoters who had already had events, the numbers of attendees were normal or a bit better than last year.

“It’s really business as normal. In terms of people coming into the country, airfares are ridiculously high, which is a sign of high demand. I think we’re in a good place in terms of events we’re going to be putting on and the ones that are already gone.”

In previous years, promoters have complained about the high cost of hiring police officers as part of security arrangements for events. Thompson said the number of police officers assigned to events was similar to what had happened in the past.

“Event promoters have been in the habit for many years of hiring private security to augment the efforts of the police. We are in the business of making dreams come true, providing an oasis for people to come and forget their woes, meet their new love, whatever it may be.

“So we want to have people as comfortable as possible when in our space. Their cars are parked and provided for with security, in the event people are there to ensure things are going on smoothly.

“The SoE has not impacted us negatively in that aspect at all because we were somewhat ahead of the game by having our own private security engaged.”

De Leon said the main reason event producers had always spent significant amounts for their own security is to protect their brand.

“An event is a brand and if you have a situation in your party, you have a problem that goes beyond the event. We have always had a concern about events being used as a proxy for criminality in TT, because it is not in fact the case that criminality resides in our sector. That’s never been the case. We’ve always had concerns about the amount of police officers and the cost of those police officers coming to events when we are not a proxy in the fight against crime.

“So far we have not seen an increase in the amount of police officers we are getting, but we continue to be of the view that what we were getting was far too much. Having said that, and understanding the environment we are in, events are not a proxy for criminality in TT. It’s the love, the joy, the happiness, that’s what we’re selling and that is what we are about to recognise.

"We have been doing our best to keep our patrons safe and we will continue to do that.”

He said there had been an evolution in terms of formats, with cooler fetes becoming more popular and all-inclusive fetes becoming more niche events.

“There are different niches we have to cater for, and we have enough event promoters reaching out to all those niches.”

De Leon said there were over 400 events planned for the year of varying types and sizes around the country. She said artists were also choosing to host their own fetes under their names.

“Is that a sustainable practice? Are the cooler fetes sustainable? Are we going to keep having these many fetes? Are we going to have more fetes? The market is always going to tell us those things. The numbers will tell you. If your party is good, people will come and pay. If the fete buss, you have to change the game, and that’s what any entrepreneur does, they look at the trends.”

Thompson said sponsorships from corporate TT depended on their principles, target market and demographic. He said high accommodation and airline prices were deterrents to visitors, and the association wanted to work with stakeholders to ensure it was affordable for people to come to and stay in TT.

Thompson said there was no intent to have a collaborative calendar of events. He was reminded of problems with e-ticketing platforms in previous years where patrons were not able to attend events owing to software glitches, and said he thought the platforms were now safer.