Carol Birchwood-James, vice president of the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association, is appealing to banks to assist in the economic development of the island's hotel industry by granting loans guaranteed under the Government's Tourism Development Plan."This is supposed to be a facility to help refurbish and restructure debts but the banks are saying they need more information from the Government and more paperwork," she told T&T Guardian.In June 2013, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced the Tourism Development plan to rescue failing tourism projects in Tobago. Then Tourism Minister Stephen Cadiz said the TT&T Tourism Business Development Company Ltd had been incorporated as a fully owned corporation with an immediate capitalisation of $100 million, and planned annual capital infusions of $50 million in financial years 2013, 2014 and 2015.
The Tobago Tourism and Development Company Ltd was set up to oversee disbursements of the fund which started with $250 million.Birchwood-James said the downturn in the world economy and fall in tourist arrivals had negatively affected Tobago's hotel industry."We want banks to do their part to assist in the economic and tourist revival of the economy of Tobago. This would help in the increase in the number of visitor arrivals. The Government plan came after the economic downturn where the hotel occupancy rate was 35 per cent and hotels were struggling to survive," she said.But up to late yesterday there was no response from the Bankers Association of T&T to the concerns raised by the hoteliers.