Tobago tourism boss: Remove subsidies on domestic flights

TOBAGO Hotel and Tourism Association (THTA) president Reginald Mac Lean says subsidies should be removed from most Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL) flights on the domestic route to facilitate greater efficiency on the airbridge.

He said removing the subsidy would be a way to address CAL’s existing booking system, which, he believes, is “damaging Tobago.”

Mac Lean, who was elected THTA president at the organisation’s AGM on April 8, used the $50 fee to change airline tickets as an example.

He told Newsday on May 17, “It stems from people blocking flights and the $50 change fee is not conducive to what happens. If you are a no-show for a flight, all it costs you is $50 to change the flight and that no-show could be for you, your wife and three children. So that is five seats you just blocked up that somebody coming to Tobago would have taken a room, a hotel, a guesthouse, a bed and breakfast and you messed that up.

“They need to put in a system where, if you don’t cancel your flight within 48 hours, your ticket becomes zero. It cannot be used again.”

Mac Lean claimed that Trinidadians who are unable to fly to Tobago or vice versa, at any given time, cannot even go online to cancel the booking to Tobago.

“It is almost impossible to cancel a flight. So again, seats are being tied up because people are not willing to make these changes.”

To address the issue, he said, subsidies should be removed from most of the flights.

“I know we have the elderly, we have the infirmed and that argument is always made. But we can subsidise a few flights. We can’t subsidise all of the flights.

“If the reality is that the ticket needs to be TT$600, let it be TT$600 because at the end of the day, the whole ferry service is subsidised. So why tie up the seats on a plane when you have seats on a ferry? So subsidise one or the other.”

Mac Lean said many people believe the subsidy should be kept.

“But that’s not true. You want to fix tourism, let’s start fixing those things.”

Commenting on Tobago’s tourism sector, he said that while there is significant domestic tourism taking place, it must work in tandem with international tourism.

“We need both. At the end of the day, domestic tourism has to also fills a gap in the different seasons that we get, especially during May-June and September, October, and November.

“What is happening now is that you don’t have very many international flights into Tobago. So we have to rely almost solely on domestic tourism.”

But Mac Lean said travelling between the islands can be challenging for many people.

“When there are long weekends, there is nothing on the ferry and nothing on the airline and when they (CAL) go to put flights back on, the special flights are being put on too late.”

He said since covid19 (2020-2021), Tobago has not got back the number of flights it had to and from the island before the pandemic.

“Tourism for Trinidad and Tobago is a way of getting much-needed foreign exchange back into the country. As a country, we need to grow up and accept tourism.”

Meanwhile, the hotel association and the Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce are expected to host a joint news conference this week to reveal their proposals for boosting the island’s tourism sector.

Representatives from the hotel association and chamber met on May 12 at the latter’s headquarters, Ansa McAl Building, Calypso Rose Boulevard, Scarborough, to come up with a strategy to take the sector forward.

Mac Lean said, “We are doing a bit of alignment with the chamber and we have come up with a proposal that both of us are working with and that is what we are coming after everybody with for tourism.

“We want to make sure that there is nobody involved – from the chamber to the hotel association - talking something different. This is our stance.”

Mac Lean, general manager of Blue Waters Inn, Speyside, said the association has already fine-tuned its proposals and sent them to the chamber for review.

“We sent back our confirmation to the chamber. We should get back our response on Monday (May 19). So hopefully by Monday or Tuesday (May 20), we will put out a press release to Trinidad and Tobago, where we will be inviting all the press in Trinidad and Tobago to a news conference, which we are going to hold to identify what needs to happen in tourism to move Tobago forward.”

He said the association has been working very hard behind the scene to ensure “that what needs to be done is done.

“It is a pressing time and we have to get it done.”

Mac Lean said the association is hoping for a meeting with Minister of Trade, Investment and Tourism Kama Maharaj, who was sworn-in on May 7 at President’s House, St Ann’s.

“A letter was sent out the day after he was announced but we haven’t received a response as yet. We have also sent out letters to everyone that concerns tourism, including the Minister of Finance (Davendranath Tancoo) and the Prime Minister (Kamla Persad-Bissessar).”

He said they also have sent out letters to Chief Secretary Farley Augustine, Tourism Secretary Tashia Burris, Finance Secretary Petal-Ann Roberts and the new Tobago MPs Joel Sampson and David Thomas.

“Hopefully, this week we are going to start seeing some responses.”