Hoteliers urge informed, positive talks on Sandals

TOBAGO Hotel and Tourism Association president Alpha Lorde has called for more informed public conversations about Sandals Resort's potential in Tobago.

He was speaking to Newsday on April 7 after a meeting with Sandals Resorts executive chairman Adam Stewart, which he described as "a structured, well-put-together meeting which ended with the desired outcome."

The meeting was held at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Blenheim, Tobago, and was chaired by Prime Minister Stuart Young. Other major stakeholders attending included Tobago Chief Secretary Farley Augustine and Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) political leader Watson Duke.

Young held a media conference following the meeting to update the public.

For Lorde, all things considered, it was an excellent meeting, he said in a phone interview shortly after.

Lorde said the collaborative approach enabled the result, without juxtaposing against when the idea of Sandals was first introduced in 2017 by former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley. The hotel brand pulled out of the project in 2019 following negative public sentiment about it.

There were concerns by environmentalists over the potential damage to the site identified for the hotel. Activists and politicians also raised concerns over the memorandum of understanding signed by government and what type of jobs for which Tobagonians would be hired.

Lorde said this time around, a more informed conversation was needed around the hotel.

“(A conversation) that focuses on inspiring the population to what would benefit them. Discuss the funds, but, by and large, discuss the true nature of what Sandals could be,” he said.

The realities as opposed to suppositions should be discussed when the details are made available, Lorde said.

“I think there were a lot of suppositions in the last conversation as well.”

Lorde said the association had always been comfortable with the idea of Sandals and, in a broader context, the progress and development of the island.

“What we have to get to still are the details and we still don’t have the details for this conversation as yet. The details of the previous conversation (in 2017) left us with more questions than we had answers.

“We are not looking back. We, as the hotel association, are very comfortable and on board with the idea of Sandals in the manner it is being currently discussed, once we have an opportunity to look at the proposal, if and when submitted.

“Based on the details in there we may then add our voice further to the conversation.”

The ideal outcome for the association is a built hotel as quickly as possible, he added.

The association said the sooner Sandals in Tobago became a reality the better it would be, because it offered a wide range of opportunities for Tobago’s tourism industry in its entirety.

“But not to get ahead of ourselves, what was done today was only the first stage, which is general consensus on inviting Sandals to make a proposal again.

“That has a process to go through and I think we have to honour and respect that,” he said.

Lorde said he hoped the conversation of progress for Tobago continued in the same collaborative vein as the one that took place on April 7.

He called on Tobago stakeholders and leaders to broaden the conversation beyond Sandals to Tobago’s tourism product with the same collaborative and strategic approach.

“In that way, we could achieve some things versus the confrontational attitudes that took place at different times in the past,” he said.