Chin Lee: Hotels heavily booked — no withdrawals

Minister of Tourism Howard Chin Lee said yesterday that despite updated travel advisories for Trinidad and Tobago from the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, all of the major hotels in Trinidad and Tobago are fully booked for Carnival. Chin Lee said that while the advisories were cause for concern, they have not affected tourist arrivals, in Trinidad or Tobago.

According to the minister, checks with the hotels yesterday revealed that all are heavily booked with little accommodation available for Carnival. He added that in Tobago, the situation was the same. “There are no indications that people are withdrawing bookings for Carnival,” said the enthusiastic minister. He said despite the travel advisories last year Trinidad had over 250,000 tourist arrivals. In Tobago, tourist arrivals exceeded 100,000. The Ministry of Tourism will soon be launching a Care package for tourists giving them advice on places which they should desist from going, and crime prevention measures.

The advisories from the three countries have warned tourists about significant increases in murder, kidnappings for ransom and violent crimes. More than half of the tourists are from North America, while there is a significant number of British travellers to Tobago. The Canadian advisory warned about increasing incidents of rape in Tobago, and cautioned travellers to stay away from Laventille, Fort George and La Brea. On Monday, the Ministry of Tourism unveiled 25-foot tall Carnival puppets at the Piarco Roundabout in preparation for tourist arrivals for Carnival.