Secretary of Tourism and Transportation in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Tracy Davidson-Celestine has produced data that shows growth in international arrivals to the island since she took office in January 2013.
In her contribution to the 2015/2016 budget debate, Davidson-Celestine said there was a 100 per cent increase in international arrivals for the 2015 winter period compared to 2014 and in 2014 an additional 2,224 passengers came to the island compared to 2013. She said it was unfortunate that the leaders of the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) and the Tobago Forwards seemed at best unable to comprehend the statistics or at worst tried to deliberately skew the fact that there has been growth in the sector.
Pointing to the definition of arrivals as articulated by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), Davidson-Celestine said that arrival statistics refer to the measurement of international bound visitors (tourists whether they are stay over visitors or same day visitors and cruise passengers into the destination). In that context, she said, the statistics clearly show that for the winter period 2014/2015 a total of 74,165 international guests arrived in Tobago compared to just over 36,000 for the winter period 2013/2014.
Davidson-Celestine said total estimated stay-overs in Tobago was 550,000 for 2014 and 530,000 for 2013–an increase of almost 20,000 guests using hotels, guest houses, bed and breakfasts, tours etc.
The revised figures for international passenger arrivals by air for 2013 stands at 36,993, while that for 2014 is 40,217 passengers both of which have been adjusted to include indirect passengers from the Caribbean, Canada and other countries.