Tobago's future?

Recently, while driving along Milford Road, I saw an elderly man walking ahead of me on the sidewalk. The sight of him struck such a chord in my mind that I wished I had a camera to capture the symbolism. He was bent, hobbling with a cane, with the words “Tobago’s Future” emblazoned across the back of his faded red PNM T-shirt.

Because of the pandemic, 2020 has been a year of struggle, personally and professionally, for many around the world. Dependent on tourism, Tobago has been a veritable ghost town. With borders closed, Trini visitors have been the only hope for many businesses.

Curious, I asked tourism stakeholders and regular citizens at random for their thoughts about the island’s future, based on current circumstances.

The manager of one establishment looked somewhat exhausted at the prospect of answering: “Somebody asked me that same question last night and then again this morning. People have been asking that question a lot lately.

"And every time someone asks, I have to pause and my answer is always different.”

She fell into a deep silence for about two minutes then, seemingly distracted by the call of duty, disappeared and did not return. Her answer remains unknown.

A Tobago-based villa owner had this to say: “As a villa owner I’m scared for the future of tourism in Tobago, as anybody would be. First of all because of covid, and then because of crime rising due to economic hardship. I think it’s very scary. Our foreign market has disappeared and may not come back for a long time. And our Trini market needs to be more disciplined. because their behaviour is going to make covid stick around longer here and that will affect our local tourism.

"So it doesn’t look good. If things get to the point that the PM considers closing beaches again, that would be the death blow for many small tourism businesses which are already hanging by a thread. A better idea would be to put one policeman on each of the major beaches to ensure people respect covid guidelines. That would allow us to retain the Trinidad tourism that is currently keeping us alive, and it would keep our own locals healthier and happier simply by having normal access to the sea.”

One hotel manager commented: “For the next year things look grim. The impact covid has had on the world will affect tourism greatly. For things to get back to normal it will probably take the whole of 2021. We have to hope and pray and depend on local tourism to sustain us. And Tobago needs to open up and change its mindset where service and treatment of people and animals is concerned. We need to get serious about these things. That may sound small but affects so much.”

A wildlife conservationist was daunted: “I’m not very optimistic, because there is no will to police any of the existing rules. There is no will to police hunting or wildlife abuse. No will to control land management. Speculative development is a major problem and I can’t see who will put the brakes on that. The big one is that massive road up at Blue Waters that’s gone into pristine lands with no attempt to control massive run-off which is going into and destroying the reefs now protected under the Ramsar Convention. No one has made a fuss.

"What saddens me most is that the community up there that depends on tourism and diving has not made a noise. No one has a voice.”

A female Tobagonian was disenchanted: “I’m not seeing much progress. Tobago has so much natural stuff in terms of tourism. You go to other islands that have less and they do so much to promote it. Tobago only following what Trinidad says.”

A musician/carpenter expressed nostalgia: “I am the last of the old generation of happy times when everybody came to Tobago. I remember being blown away by all the pretty people, like we were in a magazine.

"This young generation don’t like to play live music on the beach. Now it’s just ‘ragga ragga’ through their MP3 players. Tobago don’t have the love again. Anyone go on the beach any more with a drum?"

These are a few of the people interviewed. No one, out of all of them, had a hopeful or positive outlook.

We are entering a proverbial "new" year, 2021. Will we go hobbling through it on the same old crutches?