Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 25/Jul 05:47

Stakeholders meet at tourism forum in Tobago

President of the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association (THTA) Reginald MacLean is calling for the repeal of the foreign investment Tobago Land acquisition order of 2007 which he says continues to deter capital inflows into Tobago’s real estate and tourism sector. MacLean was speaking during the association’s first ever Tourism Forum held on July 24 at the Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf Resort. He said the tag line – the fuel of the future – was chosen to coincide with the declining gas and oil reserves in TT, noting that tourism would be the one to drive the push forward. “Like any engine, tourism requires fuel and that fuel comes to us in many ways from clear investment, from clear investment, from marketing and through partnerships. The latter being partnership between the state and the private sector both central government and the Tobago House of Assembly.” MacLean said the forum was a very bold step and its like had never been done on the island before. He added that it could point Tobago in a new direction needed for tourism. He said all accommodation providers had a ten per cent room tax on their rooms, noting that it should be aligned with other islands and how they used it. “We would like to request that that entire ten per cent room tax be put to use for destination marketing. Not just of Tobago but also Trinidad. This way we can truly compete with the global destinations. Right now, we are not being seen in the market as we should be seen.” He called for a restructuring of the Tobago Tourism Agency Ltd (TTAL) aimed at strengthening its capacity, autonomy and impact on the island. He also asked for THTA representation on state boards inclusive of Caribbean Airlines, Airports Authority and Civil Aviation. That, he believed, would have a positive impact. While THTA’s first vice-president Rene Seepersadsingh noted that it was the first time the private sector had assembled to hold a tourism forum of this nature on the island. He said its purpose was solely to discuss the future of Tourism in Tobago and Trinidad. “Tourism is an industry well known as the heartbeat of Tobago. It impacts our communities and our daily lives and...it is imperative that we need to come together today and really put our industry in perspective. "If we do not do that, we cannot reap the natural benefits that this sector has, particularly when one considers we are now in a era where foreign exchange has become a very hot topic and this industry is one of the few that can easily turn on the foreign exchange earnings for TT, almost and literally in a heartbeat.” THA Secretary of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation Tashia Burris noted that the sector is at a crossroad, not defined by uncertainty but by opportunities. “In local palance: it would appear that goat bite we. We have faced trial after trial. Covid19 – nobody planned for that. A pandemic that closed down our hotels, emptied our rooms, put our beaches on standby and literally sent shockwaves throughout the world. "We had an oil spill – something that has never happened in Tobago’s modern history and everything that we had to do to recover from that incident, rising crime and negative travel advisories – we see the headlines.” She went further: “Tobago experienced the highest murder rate in its history last year and certainly that did not help a sector that was already struggling to break through the noise; not with negativity, but with selling everything that the destination has become known for. "The shark attack: who would have thought that in our pristine, quiet waters of Tobago that one of our visitors would experience a life-threatening incident that again tested our resolve as a destination.” She pointed out that climate change too created some impact. “That silent but deadly warrior, the slow and relentless that is already reshaping the way we see our island and the way that we experience our island threatening our coral reefs, threatening our dive sector, driving more and more severe storms and forcing us to really confront the reality that the tourism sector is really a volatile space to work in.” She said product development and investment in one’s self remains a challenge. She said foreign investments were always spoken about but but asked if the work was being done to improve its product. “Rusty does not equate to rustic, dated does not equate to dilapidated. We have to look at what we’re putting on the table and ask ourselves if that is the best demonstration of what we can offer where our product is concerned. Because let us be real, the competition does not lie within this room, the competition is outside in the region and in the rest of the world.” The post Stakeholders meet at tourism forum in Tobago appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.