To­ba­go stake­hold­ers are hap­py with the ar­rival of the in­ter­is­land fast fer­ry HSC Jean de la Valette.

The ves­sel, which will re­place the lone in­ter­is­land fast fer­ry -TT Spir­it which is due to go on dry dock at the end of Ju­ly- ar­rived from Spain on Wednes­day morn­ing.

“We are hap­py and heart­ened that an­oth­er ves­sel is here to boost the econ­o­my and act as a dou­ble re­dun­dan­cy just in case one of the oth­er fer­ries do not work,” Mar­tin George, Chair­man of the To­ba­go Busi­ness Cham­ber told Guardian Me­dia.

Leased from Vir­tu Fer­ries- a busi­ness op­er­at­ing out of Mal­ta, the Jean De Valette will cost tax­pay­ers 34,500 Eu­ros or TT$ 263,580 per day.

But George, an at­tor­ney at law, said the cost to lease the ves­sel “might seem quite pro­hib­i­tive but giv­en the cost of not hav­ing a re­li­able fer­ry ser­vice to To­ba­go’s econ­o­my, this cost is not im­por­tant at this time.”

“What we have to do now is en­sure that suf­fi­cient lo­cal cost con­tent goes in­to the ves­sel while it is here...our lo­cal crew must get train­ing to op­er­ate a sim­i­lar ves­sel,” Go­erge said.

Vice pres­i­dent of the To­ba­go Ho­tel and Tourism As­so­ci­a­tion (TH­TA) Car­ol Ann Birch­wood-James said the cost should not be a con­cern.

“We are not count­ing fig­ures ( cost) for the ves­sel now. What we are hap­py about is that it is here for the Ju­ly/Au­gust peak pe­ri­od and we can see our ac­com­mo­da­tion fig­ures re­turn to what we were ac­cus­tomed to,” she said.

She added the as­so­ci­a­tion is hop­ing “the ves­sel’s ar­rival will be the start of a long suc­cess­ful pe­ri­od in this is­land’s eco­nom­ic his­to­ry which will in­crease tourists’ con­fi­dence and they will re­turn.”

An­oth­er tourism stake­hold­er or­gan­i­sa­tion al­so said it too is “hap­py” for the ves­sel.

Pres­i­dent of To­ba­go Unique Bed and Break­fast & Self-Cater­ing As­so­ci­a­tion Kaye Trot­man said: “It’s good that it is here for the start of the Au­gust va­ca­tion.”

She said the cost of the lease “is a re­flec­tion that the Gov­ern­ment is go­ing all out to show it’s com­mit­ted to the tourism sec­tor and To­ba­go’s econ­o­my.”

She is look­ing for­ward to tourists flock­ing to To­ba­go be­cause of the “ease with which they can get to and from To­ba­go.”

Pres­i­dent of the In­ter­is­land Truck­ers and Traders As­so­ci­a­tion Ho­race Ameade said he was not just “hap­py” but al­so re­lieved.

“Now To­ba­go’s econ­o­my will get the boost it needs,” he said.

Mean­while, in a re­lease Chief Sec­re­tary Kelvin Charles said, “No cost was too much to guar­an­tee the com­fort of pas­sen­gers in a first-class en­vi­ron­ment and en­sure that the route con­tin­ues to be ser­viced con­sis­tent­ly.”

The Gov­ern­ment said the T&T Ex­press -the oth­er in­ter­is­land fast fer­ry op­er­at­ing on the route- will be sold and two new fast fer­ries are ex­pect­ed to ar­rive in 2020.