Di­vali is at­tract­ing for­eign tourists and can do with an ad­di­tion­al push, says tour op­er­a­tor Jesse James. He was at the time speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia on Sun­day when he brought 65 for­eign­ers to the com­mu­ni­ty of Fe­lic­i­ty, Ch­agua­nas to get a first hand taste of Di­vali cel­e­bra­tions.

James who op­er­ates Mem­bers On­ly Tours and Taxi Ser­vices said the vis­i­tors at yachties who an­chor in Ch­aguara­mas and are here to ex­pe­ri­ence T&T’s cul­ture.

“It’s an in­ter­na­tion­al crowd and they come from all over the world. I have vis­i­tors from the US, Ger­many, and Cana­da. ” James said he has been bring­ing vis­i­tors to the Cen­tral com­mu­ni­ty for Di­vali for the past 26 years,” he said.

He said last year the group was much small­er fol­low­ing the Covid-19 Pan­dem­ic. “ Back in the old days we used to have close to 200 peo­ple com­ing here to vis­it, we used to have tas­sa, danc­ing, and a nice lit­tle pro­gramme. We are now see­ing a lit­tle re­cov­ery on the front with the yacht ar­rivals to Trinidad.”

James said pro­mot­ing events such as Ram­leela, Di­vali and Di­vali Na­gar as a tourist at­trac­tion would be ben­e­fi­cial. He said there are no pro­mo­tions to boost lo­cal In­di­an cul­ture as a tourism prod­uct.

“ These peo­ple trav­el the world and this is what they like to do, they like to come to the lo­cal com­mu­ni­ties and vis­it and meet the peo­ple and ex­pe­ri­ence it for them­selves.”

James said he plans to mar­ket Ram­leela in 2024 with the yachties. He said the mar­ket is big when it comes to the sea­far­ers who vis­it T&T.

James said if the event was prop­er­ly pro­mot­ed he could have got­ten more vis­i­tors. He said, “to pro­mote Ram­leela and Di­vali we need to do some work, there is po­ten­tial with the cruis­ers.”