An expert in tourism intelligence and development says the failed Sandals deal can be an opportunity to change this country’s approach to tourism.
Dr Auliana Poon, Managing Director of Tourism Intelligence International, a leading international consultancy that has been operating for more than 25 years, said Tobago’s tourism stakeholders must let the world know “the island is open for business, but perhaps not open to Sandals business and not in that format.”
Tourism Intelligence International recently beat more than 20 competitors to land the contract to develop Dominica’s National Tourism Policy and Tourism Master Plan. The company contributed to the development of more than 100 destinations, including Abu Dhabi, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece and Hong Kong.
“When Sandals talks about the negative press for some people its negative press, but the independent traveller is happy that an independent destination is concerned about its environment . . . (and) wants to have transparency,” Poon said.
She said such travellers “would love to come to a country where people have a voice and have a say. So I say it’s( extremely positive depending on how you look at it.”
Poon, who runs Villa Being, a high-end tourism resort in Tobago, said of the 1.5 billion travellers globally, only two per cent travel to the Caribbean. If the destination could attract 100,000 of the 1.5 billion people who are more conscious and educated, those travellers would be interested that Tobago is concerned about the environment, she said.
She also said Tobago might not have been ready for a project of the magnitude proposed by the Government and Sandals.
“We need to rethink the strategy of just building the stuff and letting somebody else come to manage it. The real money is in the management. Do we have the management capabilities to run it?” Poon asked.
She suggested that the Caribbean send students to the top universities in Switzerland to study hotel management so that they can return to manage the islands’resources.
According to Poon, Sandals might not have been what Tobago needed at this point.
“Club Med invented this holiday where people descended on this village for sun, sand, sea and sex and what have you but where is Club Med today? Club Med had its day,” she said.
“The point I’m making is Sandals had 30 to 40 years of fantastic growth and development. I’m asking is this the end of the life cycle we jumping on to? Is it that Tobago is now trying to perfect the production of typewriters when everybody wants a computer? Is this the end of the line? Is this only thing? What is coming after that?”