Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and senior lecturer of Tourism at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Dr Acolla Cameron wants the tourism sector to be taken more seriously as an engine for economic growth, rather than mere “tokenism” in the debate on how to diversify the economy.
“Tourism has no political legitimacy. It is one of those sectors that is talked about, is referred to but you have not seen that sort of commitment to fully develop the sector to its true potential. Linked to this is tourism tends to be treated as tokenism for diversification. So, you will hear the word touted that we need to diversify and tourism is identified as one of the sectors but not given the requisite backing to take it to the level of its Caribbean neighbours,”said Cameron.
As a result of the lack of the requisite backing, what has been noticed in the local context is that there tends to be a shifting of the priorities for tourism.
“Today, there is a focus on business tourism, in another season, the emphasis shifts to eco-tourism, then sport tourism. So, there is a constant shifting in priorities which is another factor defining the context we find ourselves in locally,” she said.
Cameron spoke at a webinar hosted by the University of the West Indies’ Trade and Economic Development Unit, entitled “Tourism: a viable development option for T&T and the wider Caribbean?”
She said in T&T stakeholders need to “get settled” and the Government has to determine the role of this important sector in the economy.
“The Government needs to make a decision once and for all on the role of tourism in sustaining the local economy in these existential times. Should it be considered as a priority sector for meaningful development, then this decision must be supported by a clear vision that is communicated at every level of society. We cannot be vacillating as to whether or not we should consider tourism, just make a decision once and for all. This vision must be not just stated but supported by the requisite funding not a situation where the tourism institutions constantly have to come cap in hand for funding but the vision must be supported by a budget that can deliver on the vision.”
She also urged T&T to “get smart” which means technology must be leveraged leading to a smart experience for the visitor.
“This is one which enhances the tourist experience through personalisation, context awareness, and real-time monitoring. There has to be an increase in the use of digital platforms and technologies among tourism business operators. This is critical as it will increase the visibility of the individual operator as well as the destination and make it more convenient for potential visitors to book experiences to the destinations.
“The fundamental point is that if you are not online, you are not on sale. They must ensure that the local tourism business has regularly updated websites, active social media platforms where visitors can easily gain product or services information, verify accuracy via reviews and book experiences in real time.”
She spoke about T&T having an “excessive dependence” on small source markets which create vulnerability for the sector and the need to find new markets.
“We have noticed that we are heavily dependent on the diaspora and very few source markets for quite a number of years. And so, what is required at this juncture is developing robust market intelligence that can help us identify trends in tourism supply and demand.”
She said having a tourism sector that brings economic viability means generating quality jobs and infrastructure.
“When we are thinking of island economies that are in large part dependent on tourism, we have to face the pressing issue how can we make tourism a more viable sector in these uncertain times and even to go as far as to ensure the socio-economic survival of the region.
“What is meant by tourism economic viability? We are pursuing local prosperity where we want to ensure there is maximisation of visitor spend in the economy. We are also pursuing employment quality. We are after increasing the number of employment opportunities as well as the number of jobs generated by tourism. Thirdly, we are talking about economic benefits so increasing foreign exchange, attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), encouraging investment in new infrastructure.”
Crime’s impact
UWI Professor of Economics, Roger Hosein who also spoke at the webinar warned that if left unchecked, the increasing crime rate in T&T will continue to damage the economy and specifically the tourism sector.
“One of the things that we have to work on is the relationship between homicides and international overnight visitors to T&T. What I found when I looked at the data is after homicides crossed 400 per annum in T&T, there tends to be an impact on overnight visitors and that is something that the policymakers will want to look at.
“We can tap into the Notting Hill carnival, the Toronto carnival, the carnivals that take place throughout the world that are in some way derived from T&T’s Carnival and see if we can market our Carnival through those international events and get people there to our Carnival with foreign exchange capacity.”
He used the Jamaican example of a country with a high crime rate but successful tourism industry.
“The stumbling block that I think for T&T is really is how do we push to attract more tourists into T&T with this horrendous crime level. When you say that, some people would say to you that in Jamaica there are a lot of tourists flowing to Jamaica and they have a very crime level. While it may happen in Jamaica and they may get some tourists even with a high murder level, in T&T it may not work so. I think that we have to become aggressive in the pursuit of this tourism dollar with all the necessary inter-linkages and all the necessary institutional support because it might be our saving grace at this point in time, given the outlook for the energy sector in the medium terms.”
