ELIZ­A­BETH GON­ZA­LES

GML Cor­re­spon­dent

The To­ba­go Ho­tel and Tourism As­so­ci­a­tion (TH­TA) says To­ba­go is still open, safe, and ready to wel­come vis­i­tors, in light of the de­c­la­ra­tion of a State of Emer­gency ear­li­er to­day.

In a state­ment, the TH­TA said there are no re­stric­tions on move­ment and no changes to tourism ac­tiv­i­ties.

“All ho­tels, re­sorts, restau­rants, at­trac­tions, and trans­porta­tion ser­vices con­tin­ue to func­tion as nor­mal,” the re­lease said.

The As­so­ci­a­tion said the State of Emer­gency is “a safe­ty mea­sure by the Gov­ern­ment” and is not meant to stop dai­ly life for cit­i­zens or tourists.

“This mea­sure by the Gov­ern­ment is a proac­tive step to en­sure na­tion­al safe­ty and se­cu­ri­ty and is not tar­get­ed at dis­rupt­ing the dai­ly lives of cit­i­zens or vis­i­tors,” the TH­TA said.

TH­TA pres­i­dent Regi­nald MacLean said To­ba­go con­tin­ues to be a wel­com­ing place, and peo­ple should feel safe com­ing here.

“To­ba­go re­mains a warm and wel­com­ing des­ti­na­tion for all,” he said.

“Vis­i­tors can feel con­fi­dent that their safe­ty and ex­pe­ri­ence re­main our top pri­or­i­ties,” he as­sured. “Tourism con­tin­ues un­in­ter­rupt­ed, and our mem­bers are com­mit­ted to de­liv­er­ing ex­cep­tion­al ser­vice and hos­pi­tal­i­ty.”

TH­TA is ask­ing trav­ellers to keep their trav­el plans and en­joy the is­land as usu­al.

“We en­cour­age all trav­ellers to con­tin­ue with their trav­el plans and en­joy all that To­ba­go has to of­fer,” the state­ment said.

The TH­TA said it is work­ing close­ly with the au­thor­i­ties and will give up­dates if any­thing changes.