What is it about tourism that has spawned this ridiculously high turnover of Tourism Ministers and TDC chairman, 5 of each in as many years.
And now here we go again with the dismissal of Chairman Denise Demming, for reasons unstated, and her replacement by Richard Duncan. The trouble is that each new candidate has to go through a lengthy learning curve before they can set their priorities and get down to work, during which the inertia continues.
Is this sector so complex, and the industry so difficult to understand, that minister after minister, and chairman after chairman, have had to be replaced with absolutely nothing to show for their collective tenure?
Or is it that there is a continuing lack of vision about where the government wants to go with the tourism sector?
Or is it perhaps that none of them have properly understood the appropriate governance process between the ministry and its state enterprise at both the policy and executive levels?
Whatever it is, while all the economists are calling for diversification of the economy, the one sector capable of generating a meaningful increase in hard currency earnings, providing well-paying jobs, and offering cross cutting linkages with the proven potential to stimulate other economic sectors, is allowed to lie fallow.
50 years ago with the advent of the jet aircraft, tourism came to the wider Caribbean. It was not immediately welcomed, as it was often seen as foreign dominated, and the delivery of service was confused with servitude.
These doubts, of course, did not last long, and were soon replaced by an open embrace. Tourism became the much needed alternative to an agricultural sector under continuing threat by the withdrawal of one colonial subsidy after another.
Realisation dawned that here was an economic activity that played to all the Caribbean’s natural advantages, instead of its limited economies of scale.
Well today another external challenge has to be faced: the luxury of overpriced oil and gas has been withdrawn, perhaps for good, and we must now find viable alternatives.
Tourism is just such an alternative, and Trinidad & Tobago with its great natural beauty, its benign climate— we are outside the hurricane belt, at least Trinidad is—and its extraordinary environmental and cultural diversity is just sitting there waiting to be tapped.
All that is needed is the political vision, leadership, and determination to do it.
Surely it is time that we escaped from this 50 year time warp, and got down to fulfilling the nation’s obvious tourism potential.
But it will never happen while the Ministry of Tourism and TDC continue to play this silly game of musical chairs.
Here’s a novel proposal:
1. Pass legislation that establishes an investment regime competitive with our Caribbean neighbours, and other warm weather destinations
2. Appoint directors to the TDC board with knowledge and experience in the tourism industry, rather than just the credentials of a party card.
3. Demand that the board develop and approve a practical strategic action plan, with clearly stated objectives, achievable time lines and enforceable levels of accountability,
4. Aggressively promote T&T to the travelling public, as two separately branded destinations under a single flag, and overcome once and for all our reputation as the best kept secret in Caribbean tourism.
5. Then step back and provide the necessary oversight to ensure that TDC staff get on with their jobs, free of self-defeating micro-management.
Tourism is a business, a business where we deliver an internationally competitive visitor experience for a competitive price. We certainly have the product, all that is lacking is the political will to make it happen.
John Bell,
Maraval
Editor’s note: Though Mr Bell issued this letter in a private capacity, it is worth noting that he is is one of the most experienced executives in Caribbean tourism. He’s a member of the board of THRTA, the Trinidad Hotels, Restaurant and Tourism Association, and a former president of the Caribbean Hotels Association