Tobago bracing for tourism boom

TOBAGO TOURISM stakeholders are anticipating a boom following the recent addition of two major European airlines to the Tobago route. Martinair of Holland made its inaugural flight to Crown Point International Airport on Saturday, less than a week after Lauda Air of Austria made its inaugural flight. The contracts for these new services were signed earlier this year at the International Bourse (IT) in Berlin and during a tour of Europe by Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Tourism Secretary, Neil Wilson. Hotelier Allan Clovis told Newsday he supported fully this “positive step toward sustainable tourism” since any additional lift coming from an international port would mean reasonable occupancy levels in hotels, guest houses and other facilities. He added that benefits would “trickle down” to restaurants, taxi drivers and tour operators.

President of the Tobago chapter of the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Janet Arnold, while excited about the development expressed concern about the preparedness of the average “man on the street” to capitalise on the opportunities that would be presented. “This will present real opportunities for the hoteliers and other customer oriented services. However, we do have a lot to do in terms of becoming a service oriented community. A lot of people get mixed up with service and servitude.” Referring to the recent Tobago/Netherland friendship celebration, Netherlands Ambassador to TT, Maarteen M Van der Gaag, declared: “We want to build bridges with Tobago.” Speaking at a media briefing at Crown Point, Tobago following the arrival of Martinair on Saturday night, he said: “What is important is to make the name of Tobago more known to the people of the Netherlands and Scandinavia.”

Tourism Secretary Wilson said the new flights on the Tobago route add up to 500 additional seats per week. He said the European market was not uncharted territory as Condor Airlines had been operating out of Germany for several years now. He said the plan was to regain the hold that Tobago had on that market, as well as the Scandinavian market. Wilson told Newsday that he had been reliably informed by Martinair that the first four flights were almost fully booked. He said the Tourism Division has no current plans to woo more European airlines: “We have covered enough territory in Europe. For now we will work on cementing our relationship with the North American market. “We will also spend time ensuring that our BWIA flights operating from the US are fully patronised and see if we could get a few flights to join the route as well.”