TOBAGO GETS COPS, BOAT

Cabinet yesterday approved a fresh deployment of security forces to Tobago to conduct 24-hour patrols in districts where tourists are in particular danger from criminal attacks, Tourism Minister Howard Chin Lee disclosed at a post-Cabinet media conference.

“Cabinet has approved that a contingent of 30 members of the Defence Force, 19 from the Regiment and 11 from the Coast Guard, be deployed to Tobago to do 24-hour patrols,” he announced.

And Works and Transport Minister Colm Imbert announced that Government would be leasing an additional cargo vessel for the seabridge — the Malta Express — over the next two years.

Imbert said the capacity of this vessel exceeded the combined capacity of the MV Panorama and MV Sonia. He said the vessel would come into service from next month — May. Imbert said while the vessel would cost $129 million — $65 million for the lease and $64 million for the operating costs — the expected revenue was $15 million.

Chin Lee said Cabinet took the decision after fresh fears by stakeholders in the tourism industry that crime in the island would cause a reduction in visitor arrivals. He said 50 percent of Tobago’s population are involved in the tourism industry. He said certain initiatives were earlier taken with respect to crime fighting in Tobago because, within recent times, visitors were targeted for criminal attacks. This, Chin Lee said had resulted in several warning advisories being put out by the United Kingdom and the United States.

“The Tobago House of Assembly and the Tourism Ministry are concerned that these incidents have begun to show some negative impact on arrivals to Tobago,” Chin Lee said yesterday.

“To enhance safety and boost tourism in Tobago, Cabinet had earlier approved certain measures, which the National Security Ministry had implemented,” he recalled. Chin Lee said one of these measures was the deployment of a contingent of police officers and soldiers to conduct joint patrols in specific areas where there has been an increase in criminal activity in Tobago. “On March 9, another platoon was posted to Tobago to support their efforts, and additional vehicles were given to the security forces there to ensure mobility and responsiveness,” he added. Further, instructions were given to supervisory staff at police stations in Tobago to give timely and efficient response to reports, he said.

He noted that the recent Tobago Jazz Festival was incident-free due to the high level of professionalism with which security forces operated.

Contrary to the crime concerns, the minister said figures for the period 2002 to now, show that there has been a growth in visitor arrivals to TT.

He said there were 315,000 visitors in 2004 and this increased to 450,000 last year, the highest ever.