The meeting between Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Tobago stakeholders at the Magdalena Grand Beach Resort yesterday has been described as fruitful.
A high-powered ministerial team led Rowley, a THA team led by chief secretary Kelvin Charles and Tobago stakeholders led by Tobago Chamber president Demi John Cruickshank, seemed comfortable following the four-hour, closed-door meeting.
The meeting, which was initiated by Cruikshank, was geared at finding solutions to the island’s strained tourism product after it suffered a decline in 2017 due to the problems of the air and sea bridges causing Tobago’s economy to worsen
Speaking at the press conference yesterday, Cruikshank said he was pleased with the outcome.
“It was a very very fruitful meeting. I think we went into detail in terms of each item step- by- step and I think the private sector is a lot clearer in terms of what the Government’s plans are for Tobago and I hope that in a very short space of time we can see the economy of Tobago on the path of growth and I hope that in the very near future we will see a resolve of a number of the issues that we as the private sector has highlighted to the Prime Minister,” Cruikshank said.
Responding to questions about the declining tourism sector, Rowley said several proposals were put forward by the Government which have not yet kicked in. He said Tobago stakeholders also offered suggestions
“Some of the proposals which they see as solutions may not be the possible answer., They tell us that they were hard-hit and we believe, by the unreliability of the connection to Trinidad, we are going to fix that and the sea ferry which is largely for the movement from Trinidad to Tobago. We are now looking at the possibility in the not-too-distant future having the vessels on the route, the Spirit which has been on dry dock for quite some time is expected to do some sea trials next month and hopefully if the sea trials go well it will be back into service and that will plug the hole there.”
The PM added: “The Express goes on dry dock and we do not expect that dry docking to be as extensive as the Spirit. We just committed to buying a third ferry and we will be owning those three vessels so we will be having three vessels available, dedicated to the Tobago routes. In a matter of months that should put an end to the passenger ferry issue.”
On the issue of the air bridge, the Prime Minister said that there is room for improvement on all sides, but mainly the utilisation of the service by citizens. He said over 1 million seats will be produced for the Tobago route
“We have been producing over 1 million seats to Tobago and therefore it is wrong to say that Tobago is cut off and not serviced. There are 14000 flights per year, I mean 14000 flights per year that cannot be dismissed and those are subsidised flights and we want to work towards improvement and the utilization , so CAL will continue to meet with the THA,” he also said.
Rowley said between CAL and the THA and the business community “we will look at some improvement in the scheduling and of course a request was made CAL to try and bring a direct service in from North America to Tobago.
The Prime Minister also said the Sandals project was still in the pipeline. He said Tobago’s tourism sector would benefit from a Sandals investment commitment.
He reminded that a MoU exists between the Government and the Sandals brand. The project is said to be at the survey stage.