Camille McEach­nie

Own­er and chair­man of the Co­co Reef Re­sort and Spa in To­ba­go, John Jef­feris, has an­nounced that the ho­tel will be closed un­til the eco­nom­ic sit­u­a­tion im­proves in To­ba­go.

“Co­co Reef and Spa To­ba­go looks for­ward to re­open­ing at a date yet to be de­ter­mined,” the re­sort said in a press re­lease.

“The un­cer­tain­ly of the beach clo­sures, cur­few and re­strict­ed trav­el has proven to be too much to al­low for con­tin­ued op­er­a­tions.”

Co­co Reef al­so not­ed that the re­sort has con­tin­ued em­ploy­ing its work­ers since March 2020, but can­not con­tin­ue do­ing so.

“While all as­so­ciates have re­mained em­ployed dur­ing the past eigh­teen months, the cur­rent lev­els of em­ploy­ment can­not con­tin­ue as it has dur­ing the pan­dem­ic. Staffing will be re­duced to main­tain se­cu­ri­ty.”

The re­sort gave no def­i­nite time for re­open­ing.

“Re­open­ing will be an­tic­i­pat­ed and planned for as trav­el re­sumes, as vac­ci­na­tion in­creas­es, and as new hos­pi­tal­i­ty ini­tia­tives and pro­to­cols are em­braced and im­ple­ment­ed.”

It al­so not­ed that To­ba­go needs to im­prove its of­fer­ings.

“It’s a new world of trav­el and hos­pi­tal­i­ty. A well-planned tourism ef­fort is re­quired to bring back To­ba­go to its pris­tine is­land- des­ti­na­tion im­age.”

The re­sort said it looked for­ward to “a mul­ti-pronged ap­proach to in­creas­ing air­lift” and “lift­ing the qual­i­ty of ser­vices” in To­ba­go.

The Co­co Reef Re­sort and Spa has won sev­er­al awards over the years. Last year, it won the World Trav­el Awards as the Caribbean’s lead­ing ho­tel and To­ba­go’s lead­ing re­sort.

This coun­try’s in­ter­na­tion­al bor­ders closed in March 2020 and re­opened on Ju­ly 17 but do­mes­tic flights be­tween the is­lands have been re­duced due to COVID-19.

Tourism Agency plans for post-COVID

The To­ba­go Tourism Agency Lim­it­ed (TTAL) says since the on­set of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic, ef­forts have been made to lure tourists back to To­ba­go.

TTAL said it is im­prov­ing what is of­fered on the is­land.

The Gov­ern­ment of­fered a $50 mil­lion Tourism Ac­com­mo­da­tion Up­grade grant to the is­land’s tourism ac­com­mo­da­tion stake­hold­ers to as­sist in this dri­ve. Last month, the THA al­so set up a 12-mem­ber com­mit­tee to ex­am­ine and plan the safe­ty and sus­tain­abil­i­ty of the sec­tor post-COVID.

In April 2021, TTAL al­so set up a dig­i­tal and print plat­form with Ger­man me­dia for pos­i­tive mes­sages dur­ing the pan­dem­ic.

In June 2020, TTAL be­gan the World Trav­el and Tourism Coun­cil (WTTC) “Safe Trav­els” stamp ini­tia­tive. The WTTC stamp is a recog­nised safe trav­el ac­cred­i­ta­tion.

TTAL said more than 200 of the is­land’s stake­hold­ers have signed on to the ini­tia­tive.