Is tourism a priority for Trinidad and Tobago?

That's a question that I've been mulling for some time and I am not convinced that tourism is a priority in the oil and gas rich twin-island state.

For a while I was encouraged to believe T&T was getting serious about its tourism product. I was encouraged by the appearance of a draft tourism policy (yet another) and public consultations on said document, the boosting of room stock with the construction of the Hyatt Regency, Carlton Savannah and other hotels to come, and the hosting of two mega conferences, the Summit of the Americas and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference. For a while I believed the Government was finally getting serious and putting an effort into exploiting the country as a major player in the regional tourism industry.

Then came the budget and the biggest item under tourism was the multimillion dollar redevelopment of Maracas Bay, the most popular beach on the island. No mention of money to fund the new policy, no talk of money to market the country, nothing. I was confused; tourism is a labour intensive industry and with all the Prime Minister's talk about diversification of the economy, one would think developing the tourism industry would be a priority given the number of jobs that could be created within the industry.

This week I saw two articles that supports my view on where the country is headed as far as tourism is concerned. The first was a column in the Business Guardian from the Trinidad Hotels, Restaurants and Tourism Association.

In the column entitled Trinidad as a tourism product, the association basically said while the country has all the ingredients for a good tourism product, they do not constitute a reason for tourists to visit.

"The real problem lies in the fact that despite having dedicated Ministry of Tourism, complete with its own state agency for implementation, there is no c politically agreed strategic plan through which to understand consumer needs and develop that product accordingly. Despite all the talk of economic diversification, until tourism becomes a political priority, this won't happen," the association wrote.

The association called for a strategic retreat to assess the country's competitive potential and shape a plan for its development. I don't think that suggestion will be heeded and here's why.

In his Sunday Guardian column, Lennox Grant compared T&T's tourism efforts with that of Barbados.

"That tourism is the business of Barbados remains obvious on an island where projected climate-change effects on sea levels and temperatures were making banner headlines last week. That tourism is also Tobago’s business more and more attains the status of an inconvenient truth, on the way to becoming outdated. At the Cove complex opening, last month, Prime Minister Patrick Manning advertised Tobago’s future as an exporter of natural gas. THA spokesmen painted a high-wage, energy-industry picture, implying Tobago’s eventual adoption of that familiar Trinidad indifference to tourism."

With crime in Tobago, especially against foreigners, increasing, one has to wonder if the plan is indeed to diversify the sister isle away from its dependence on tourism.

It's no secret the Government of Trinidad and Tobago is all about promoting the energy sector and developing downstream industries. That's their idea of diversification. In the meantime the Tourism Development Company will continue to urge Trinis "to stay to get away". After all, if the country is not willing to do what is necessary to attract people to the island, then it's better to get the locals to fill up those fancy hotels...right?