We have plenty to be proud of when welcoming tourists to our islands. Stunning beaches, clear seas, dense and biodiverse green spaces, amazing natural landmarks, beautiful buildings and even unusual natural landscapes like a pitch lake and mud volcanoes.
We all know that tourism can mean big business when government and private enterprise work hard to attract visitors. And the figures can be impressive, too. In 2015, Barbados attracted around 1.2 million tourists spending at least one night in the country–about four times its own population size. Spain, one of the most successful tourist destinations in the world, attracted nearly 110 million people in 2015, over two times its own population (itself made of many visitors who went on to settle there). By comparison, using the same figures from the World Tourism Organisation, in 2015 we attracted just over 519,000 tourists spending at least one night with us–less than half of the total population.
Our relatively low number of visitors can and should go up by quite a long margin. After all, we have the beautiful locations and the rich culture that should make us one of the world's tourism hotspots. Given what we have been reporting on the state of Maracas Beach's facilities, though, it is a shame that we appear to be so careless when it comes to nurturing this incredible natural and man-made heritage for our own pleasure but also to earn badly needed income from tourism.
The poor experience does not start when the visitor reaches the bay. It starts along the road, as they will face potholes, unfinished road improvements and, depending on the weather, the odd fallen tree partly blocking the tarmac.
Then, when in Maracas, they will face a potholed car park, a number of unfinished new retail facilities and, if particularly unlucky, the stench of stagnant water. The ordeal will not stop there. If they need access to the paid toilet and shower facilities, they will need a helping hand to keep the toilet or changing room doors shut, as many of the locks are now missing due to rust or broken parts. Not much luck with the showers, either. Some are not usable as they do not have working taps; those in working conditions usually provide a trickle of water. That is if they are lucky enough to have water–it is not unusual for the pipes to be dry.
The story behind the poor state of the facilities is, sadly, all too familiar to us in Trinidad and Tobago. Endlessly late building works, bogged down by the state's bureaucracy or questions over how or why contracts have been awarded. The end result is also, sadly, all too familiar to us: below par facilities and disregard for taxpayers and visitors alike by the authorities responsible for our tourist destinations.
The state of Maracas would be bad enough if it could be described as a unique case. In reality, and with varying degrees of decay or unreliable water supplies, at least the authorities are equitable when it comes to making sure we all have poor beach facilities. Even Tobago's beautifully kept Pigeon Point is not immune to the odd water supply shortage or some other hiccups.
If we are serious about posing a real competition to our Caribbean neighbours when it comes to tourism, our authorities must be serious about offering visitors–foreign and locals alike–cleaner, better and nicer facilities