Support for the strategies and measures implemented by the Division of Tourism and Transportation to bolster the tourism sector in Tobago will be sought on Thursday when the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) sits for the second time in the 2013-2017 session.
Deputy Chief Secretary and Tourism and Transportation Secretary Assemblyman Tracy Davidson-Celestine said a vibrant tourism sector was critical to the economic development of the island and the recent global economic slowdown had created significant challenges for the sector in the region and the rest of the world.She said her Division had initiated strategies and implemented measures to bolster the sector in Tobago during this challenging period.
A contingent of entertainers and tourism stakeholder,s as well as officials of the Division, went to Toronto and Ottawa last week on a promotion drive to sell Tobago as a tourism destination. In the next two weeks, Davidson-Celestine will head a Tobago delegation to this year's ITB Travel Show in Berlin, Germany.
The Tobago Go Go campaign which started three years ago to facilitate late winter bookings in Scandinavia and the United Kingdom was one of the successful initiatives introduced by the Division three years ago. In this campaign travellers in those markets are offered up to �100 off packaged holidays to Tobago for at least a seven-night stay. Almost 3,500 passengers have so far made bookings through travel agencies in Scandinavia and the United Kingdom.
The Division is also in negotiations with a Canadian airline to operate a charter service directly from Toronto to Tobago to commence in the winter season and is also in the final stages of negotiating with an European airline to introduce a once a week charter service from Scandinavia to Tobago later this year.
The cruise ship industry is also showing signs of an increase in arrivals. Approximately 39 cruise ships, including three new ones, are expected to call at Scarborough and Charlotteville by the end of this season in April, bringing more 35,000 passengers, an increase of more than 2,000 over the 2011/2012 season.