Cruise-ship visitors get unique welcome in Tobago

ALVA VIARRUEL

AROUND 700 visitors aboard the cruise ship Azamara Quest were treated to a unique welcome at the Port of Scarborough on November 14, in the maiden call of what is expected to be a hectic 2025/2026 season.

Visitors were treated to a specially prepared path featuring murals of Tobago's rich culture and a colourful hop scotch design, courtesy students and teachers of the Scarborough Secondary School. The theme for the project was "games we used to play".

The island is expected to have more than 40 calls by ships this season with just over 46,000 visitors on board.

The novel beautification project which took just under a week to complete, was a collaborative effort led by the executive manager of the Port of Scarborough Dion Lawrence, Estate Constable Nichola Mohan and the art teachers at Scarborough Secondary.

Lawrence said he was in consultation with Mohan on ways to beautify the port when the school requested complimentary tickets for a trip to Trinidad.

He said a barter deal was pitched to the art teachers at the school, which they eagerly agreed to.

“Empowering the community in which we operate is a key tenet of our corporate social responsibility. Part of my leadership is to delegate and give persons the responsibility to use their talent for the betterment of the organisation," Lawrence said as he explained his trust in Mohan, a talented self-taught designer, who came up with the concept.

“The idea was to have the tourists more engaged as they disembarked or while returning to the ship. So we have snakes and ladders, marble pitching, draughts, kite-flying…

"The intention was to try to showcase the Tobago Heritage. I don’t think we do enough to market the island as a great tourist destination and I wanted to highlight more of what we have to offer,” Mohan said.

Scarborough Secondary art teacher Jeanine Crouch said the students were all excited.

“It was well received by the children and we saw it as cultural enrichment and engagement where they learn about Tobago culture and its heritage. And we thought it was a great way to encourage connection with the tourists coming off the ship to enjoy each multi-coloured blocks … not to be bored as they get to use all the fascinating little blocks. The jig block has the steps on it so as you walk along you can learn to do the jig,” she said happily.

Mohan has embraced the opportunity and is already planning ahead to next year’s cruise ship season when the patterns will be changed to a new theme.