SPLITTING TIDCO

Government has finally recognised that the Tourism and Industrial Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited needed to be fine-tuned if it wanted the company to go anywhere. It does not take a genius to figure out that one company promoting TT as a tourist destination while at the same time marketing the country as an investment destination was flawed. By lopping off the ‘Industrial’ from the company, the company could become more streamlined in its operation, and finally have some focus. Let’s face it, Tidco never really lived up to its obligations simply because it had bitten off more than it could chew. TIDCO can now market the country as a preferred tourist destination and give the other Caribbean destinations a run for their money.

Some say that even with a such a change, Tidco might have missed the boat on making TT a tourist destination. That may not be entirely true. We could learn from what others have done and tailor our packages to suit. TIDCO’s establishment a decade ago was based on the assumption that it would have been better to have had a specialist organisation, with a cadre of carefully selected professionals in place, directing the country’s tourism and industrial growth. And tourism, after all, is an industry. TIDCO failed to deliver not because of poor management, but because it was  sidetracked by projects which bore no relation to its intended mission.The road paving exercise is an example. It ended up spending tens of millions of dollars, a mini fortune, not on the road to improved tourist arrival figures and market access, but in the repaving of the country’s roads, even where such repaving had been clearly unnecessary. But whether unnecessary or not this represented a less than amusing diversionary frittering away of taxpayers’ money for political mileage.

Substantial sums are presumably being spent on overseas promotions, to woo tourists to this country. But while Jamaica, Barbados, St. Lucia and Antigua each maintained a relatively high visibility in the North American media and market the same could not be said of Trinidad and Tobago although its annual expenditure was considerable. TIDCO’s so called efforts at marketing were nowhere as effective as those of the other CARICOM countries. The tide may soon change. According to Tourism Minister, Tidco now has a better chance of delivering the goods now that its sole focus will be on promoting and marketing the country. In its efforts to woo tourists, the returns were negligible. It is not enough for Government, however, merely to split up TIDCO. Instead, it must come up with clearly beneficial marketing strategies and put systems in place which would ensure needed returns.