NO ROOM FOR COMPLACENCY

The country’s major hotels being fully booked for Carnival, as announced by Minister of Tourism, Howard Chin Lee, on Thursday, is due to the pull, primarily, of what many consider to be the world’s best Carnival, and not to any real confidence in our ability to stem the crime wave that continues to frighten us all. The absence of withdrawals of hotel bookings in the wake of updated and adverse travel advisories issued by the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Canada following on the unfortunate killing of a German national was not unexpected, and for once the Government sees no point in disputing the facts.

The plan by the Ministry of Tourism to launch a Care package for tourists advising of places they should avoid, makes sense because it is practical.  Meanwhile, although the Tourism Minister has emphasised, that there has been no cancellation of hotel bookings, following on the travel advisories being issued, nonetheless there is no room for complacency, particularly by Trinidadians and Tobagonians, and by visitors we may add. There are areas in Trinidad and Tobago, as in all other countries, from which visitors have always been advised to steer clear. And whether the city is Port-of-Spain, New York, London, Toronto, Washington, Miami or Moscow, severely low income areas and/or ghettoes traditionally have been high on “must not visit” lists. Already, Canada has incorporated in its travel advisory the caution not to visit, for example, Laventille. And while, La Brea has been included this has been principally as a result of visitors to the world famous Pitch Lake who, wishing to be shown around, have been overcharged by unscrupulous individuals posing as “official” guides.

Nationals before hailing the decision of visitors to ignore the advisories should remember no country, theirs included, has been immune from the worldwide cancer of the increase in crime. Nationals can help by steering visitors, whether returning Trinidadians and Tobagonians, Caricom or foreign tourists away from troublesome areas. They can follow through with reporting incidents of crime, no matter how minor, in which visitors and nationals have been victims. It is not enough to argue that increasing crime is a problem internationally, the factor to consider is that because of the country’s size crime has a higher visibility level than in, say, Washington, New York, Toronto or London. The New Yorker, is less likely to be shocked by reports of serious crime in his own city than he would be, for example, by reports of crime in Trinidad and Tobago, especially if because of tourist brochures he has romanticised the twin-island State as one of Sun, Sea and Beaches.

In addition, Trinidad and Tobago, despite its expanding revenues from natural gas, crude and energy-based industries, still relies on tourism as a generator of jobs and revenue. The beneficiaries embrace a wide cross-section and include taxi drivers, guides, restaurant personnel, steelbands, calypsonians, tour operators, airlines, night clubs, hoteliers, Carnival bands and banks. As Chin Lee pointed out Trinidad had more than 250,000 tourist arrivals in 2004, while Tobago’s tourist arrivals exceeded 100,000. More than half of the combined total came from North America, with a significant number of Britishers visiting Tobago. This year, what with increased interest by cruise lines the numbers should increase. Nonetheless, to take any potential increase for granted or that the numbers will remain high would be wrong. The need to tackle the crime statistics and effect a reduction remains.