Contact Magazine April 2018

transforming t&T
To what extent these policy
objectives were achieved is debatable.
For sure, the project was starved of
funding as budgetary transfers from
Trinidad, the major source of Tobago’s
finances, fell from $2.609 billion in
fiscal 2015 to $2.19 billion for fiscal
2017, a far cry from the $5 billion
requested by the THA annually to run
the island’s affairs.
Tourism
Some rebranding of the island to sustain
the tourism product did occur, but its
effectiveness remains in doubt, as the
industry has declined rapidly, helped on
by successive failures of the ferry service
from Port of Spain.
According to the Tourism
Development Company of Trinidad and
Tobago (since wound up), international
tourist arrivals in 2005 were close to
90,000, and occupancy levels were
high. But by 2015 the numbers had
fallen for the fourth consecutive year
to 22,435, and industry insiders have
reported that last year fewer than
20,000 international tourists visited the
island.
For a while, the industry was
kept afloat by an increase in domestic
tourism. The World Travel and Tourism
Council (WTTC) reported that domestic
travel spending generated 53.7 per cent
of the travel and tourism contribution
to GDP in 2016, and noted that the
market was expected to grow by 1.9
per cent in 2017.
Though the WTTC figures did not
disaggregate travel from Trinidad to
Tobago, the government in Port of
Spain, in launching the Tobago leg of
its “staycation” programme, said 59 per
cent of domestic trips originated from
Trinidad.
The 2017 growth predicted by the
To accommodate the
Sandals project, extensive
infrastructural work is
planned
WTTC never materialised. Domestic
travel was seriously damaged by
challenges on the air and sea bridges.
But tourism arrival statistics and
budgetary allocations from Trinidad
tell only part of the island’s economic
story.
Its hotels and guest houses were
starved for international and local
direct investment flows; properties
could not be upgraded. The Foreign
Investment Act of 1990, requiring
foreigners to acquire a licence
before purchasing land, and financial
institutions’ reluctance to give
government-guaranteed loans to local
investors, have blocked investment
flows needed to build new properties
and upgrade existing ones.
Private sector participation
The private sector is playing an active
role in the island’s plan for economic
transformation, but again the focus
is on tourism. According to Demi
John Cruickshank, immediate past
chairman of the Tobago Division of
the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of
Industry and Commerce, “the business
association will drive the economy
with the government as its partner.”
In January, Tobago business
owners met with a ministerial team
led by prime minister Dr Keith Rowley
(himself a Tobagonian), and several
decisions were taken involving
private-public partnership (PPP).
Revamping the economy
in 2018
The government-guaranteed loans
programme will return, and the period
of repayment will increase from seven
to fifteen years. This facility can
now be accessed by all tourism and
tourism-related industry stakeholders.
Two marinas are planned for the
western end of the island, and the
proposed Sandals Resort will proceed
as planned. The government will
build the hotel, sourcing funds from
the private sector, and Sandals will
provide management services.
To accommodate the Sandals
project, extensive infrastructural
work is planned. Work will begin on
desalination and sewage treatment
plants, and Tobago’s electricity
capacity will increase with a $132
million expansion of the Cove
Power Station. Twenty megawatts
will be added to the plant’s present
64-megawatt output.
Three vessels will operate the
domestic sea bridge, and a new
terminal for Tobago’s airport will be
built through a build-own-lease-andtransfer
financial arrangement.
These PPP projects are primarily
geared towards reviving the tourism
sector, but in the process they are
intended to kick-start the transformation
of Tobago’s economy are intended
to kick-start the transformation of
Tobago’s economy.
34
Trinidad
and Tobago Chamber
of Industry and Commerce
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine