Building up the Tobago room count

Since 2003 Tourism has been designated as an economic pillar (for diversification away from the fossil fuel economy). This effort in time to led to various marketing strategies; Clean Green Safe and Serene (), Beyond The Beaches, the Tobago Community Tourism Drive and lately, Festival Tourism. The common argument among the island tourism stakeholders was that room count is crucial to attract airlift - which in turn assure the amount of traffic.

For its size Tobago does boast substantial room count, well over 3000 in fact. But quality is not of the type that can attract the spend class which can make our tourism effort worthwhile [Chris James THTA]. What to do? Government in response to cries from the hoteliers and the business community, launched calls for hotel investment depending on a raft of long standing incentives to woo investment.

Response was encouraging. The first big name to look at Tobago since 2007 was the Sandals Resorts Group. A concept was announced by government in October 2017, signifying Sandals’ intention to build a 750-room resort in Golden Grove Estate.

Momentum failed due to public outcry - based on fear that access to the Buccoo Reef might be jeopardised. It spooked somebody up top. “After careful consideration of our current priorities and existing expansion plans, we will unfortunately not be moving forward with development in Tobago at this time,” Sandals said in a statement¹.

Immediately after Covid-19 a local investment group appeared to take the bait. We at Environment Tobago became aware of their intentions (to build a Dreams Resort) upon receiving a notice from the contractor commissioned to do the impact assessment. That project has not progressed visibly, despite an impressive argument to obtain a Certificate of Environmental Clearance.

Another effort post-pandemic to stimulate room stock by Government of Trinidad and Tobago was a call for proposals for a hotel at Rocky Point. The award for a lease of the state’s land eventually went to a Trinidadian company linked to an international brand. At time of writing this project is already a year behind investor projections.

By now you dear reader might sense where this is going. If the intention of government - as stated, is to re-attract lost market share, there may be a problem. Odds are its not lack of investor interest. The Dreams (Kilgywn Bay) and the Marriott (Rocky Point) projects - and the myriad smaller ones (not mentioned here due ot lack of space) are being exposed to externalities that can seriously jeopardise future business in Tobago.

To be fair, government’s logic for new rooms on the island is not unfounded. Tourism after all, is about serving the travel experience to a perpetually evolving customer base. However not everyone on the island is happy with expansion. A small group, self-portrayed environmentalists with a hankering to surf their wave undisturbed, wishes that Rocky Point should not be sacrificed on the altar of Tobago’s economic growth. Theirs’ is an untenable position as far Environment Tobago is concerned. Diversification matters..

Let’s remove any doubt about our NGO’s position on Rocky Point hotel development. Early in the conversation Environment Tobago was contacted by key project interests seeking our ’educated’ suggestions whereby to the hotel could be built albeit passing the least possible cost (meaning negative impact) to the local environment.
After perusing the developer’s concept, ET endorsed - by way of letter, the idea of building on the site; As it fit most of the sustainability criteria such initiatives bring. Fast foward to time of writing. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process is fully deployed; including a Social Impact Assessment (SIA).

At the same time the political machinery is being lubed by the Prime Minister - the head of this country. Naturally there is little, short of an acto of God, that could derail this project.

This begs the question though - Did Environment Tobago sell out to the wealthy private sector? We think not. The employment situation in Tobago is such that there is very little wiggle room among the general population. For most there is just enough to get by wage-wise.

There’s more to it than money. Nature matters in this equation. ET sincerely feels the employment/economic stimulus that will follow building of a Marriott Hotel at Rocky Point will stave off hunting and other traditional forms of depredation on the island’s reef and forested areas.

Obviously the ball is not only this NGO’s to carry. Despite our seeming silence on Rocky Point, the developer will not be left with a free hand. The Environmental Management Authority and all the other key stakeholders will be keeping a wary eye out.