Turbo charge our tourism

THE TOBAGO Hotel and Tourism Association has a new president.

On April 8, Reginald Mac Lean was elected at the association’s annual general meeting at the Mount Irvine Bay Resort. Mr Mac Lean, general manager of Blue Waters Inn, Speyside, will lead a board that will serve until 2027.

With the general election campaign in full swing, the new board wasted little time and on April 10 called for four things: better financing of the Tobago Tourism Agency, repeal of limits to foreign investment, marketing through a share in room tax and an airlift plan.

The association’s short laundry list of demands shows the breath of reform needed in the tourism sector. A stronger, more detailed tourism plan is required for the islands of both Trinidad and Tobago.

The proposals released on April 16 by the PNM are a promising start.

However, though Stuart Young’s 182-page manifesto document mentions tourism a total of 128 times, it is short on detail. Aside from promises to commit to a Sandals hotel and to ease visitor entry through digitisation, not much is spelled out.

The UNC, meanwhile, has spoken of tourism as part of a five-year plan for Tobago. Yet, the party is not contesting the Tobago seats.

The association’s demands prove all need to go further.

It is simply not good enough to speak, as the PNM does, of supporting “quality tourism accommodations” and tourism “awareness.” The immediate challenges faced by the leisure sector are palpable and real.

Global economic turbulence, worsened by the aura of uncertainty around things like Donald Trump’s tariffs and forced “trade deals,” means arrivals will take a hit. The less prosperity around the world, the less people travel.

Infrastructure is important.

But Mr Mac Lean and company have a point in calling for better financing of agencies.

Why, for instance, does the Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf Resort benefit from a subvention of almost $60 million, with the Tobago Tourism Agency sometimes getting $40 million to serve an entire island?

The model in which two small, neighbouring destinations are subject to separate agencies also needs thought.

Almost a decade since the Tourism Development Company split, this may not have yielded specialisation benefits. Separating Tobago was of strategic use given Trinidad’s crime. But that’s changed.

A two-in-one approach may yield better results. However, this would require collaboration between the Tobago House of Assembly and the Cabinet, especially on Carnival.

Given all that is happening in the Global North, officials should lean into regional visitors. But the Caricom-backed ferry service, which will initially be served by the Galleons Passage, is currently behind schedule. The project must get back on track. It must be part of more sweeping efforts to turbocharge tourism.