Time to brand TT

Jean Claude Baumgarten, president of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC believes TT has a fantastic potential in travel tourism but felt that we needed to develop our own "brand."

He suggested improving air access to Trinidad and Tobago by consolidating the position of BWIA and upgrading existing airport facilities.

He was speaking during the recent launch of the Tourism Development Company at the Crowne Plaza last week.

"Travel and tourism will clearly have a very important role to play in the future of Trinidad and Tobago and the opportunities offered by this industry to the economy, to employment and to social development will be enormous," Baumgarten said.

Based on results of its economic and policy research on the Trinidad and Tobago Travel and Tourism economy to Trinidad and Tobago’s tourism stakeholders Baumgarten then spelled out what should be done to fine tune the tourism thrust.

Here are some of his suggestions:

• Identify and recognise the tourism potential in Trinidad and Tobago.

•Provide a one-stop shop for investors to reduce bureaucracy and streamline the process.

•Raise awareness of the economic and social benefits to the industry throughout all levels of the population.

•Update the tourism data base on a yearly basis to ensure that adequate data is available to factor Travel and Tourism in to economic and employment strategies.

•Implement strategic plans through a strong Ministry of Tourism, in collaboration with the private sector.

•Integrate environmental management and tourism development plans to ensure that development of tourism and protection of the environment are mutually supportive.

•Pull together a concerted campaign involving government ministries, the private sector and training institutions to promote the benefits of working in the industry.

•Increase communication between the private sector employers and tourism training institutions to ensure that the supply of qualified tourism employees meets the varying demands of the industry

•Improve air access to Trinidad and Tobago by consolidating the position of BWIA and upgrading existing airport facilities

•Identify a body with clear responsibility for tourism product development and invest in diversifying the tourism opportunities within Trinidad and Tobago to ensure sustainability of the tourism product

•Develop a clearly identifiable ‘brand’ Trinidad and Tobago to raise awareness of the country as a destination throughout the world

•Ensure that strategic plans reflect issues specific to Tobago

Baumgarten concluded that Trinidad and Tobago is in a prime position to develop a diverse, high quality and sustainable tourism industry. Bolstered by successful and growing energy and financial sectors, he said Trinidad is seeing a rising demand in business tourism while Tobago on the other hand, is already one of the most tourism- intense places in the world.