Tobago hotels were almost sold out for the long Easter weekend, according to president of the Hotel and Tourism Association in Tobago Nicholas Hardwicke.
With both local and domestic tourists flocking to the island for activities such as the goat and crab races yesterday in Mt Pleasant and similar activities in Buccoo today, there are hardly any rooms left empty.
Hardwicke said the room occupancy figures are not only excellent but good for the tourism thrust and the Tobago economy. Only a few more rooms were available on Sunday, he said during a telephone interview that day.
“All the bookings that were coming have arrived, so I am told the traffic on the air and sea bridge has been good and active and, you know, most of our hotels are reporting occupancies in excess of 80 per cent,” Hardwicke said.
Hardwicke said these figures represent a step in the right direction, but there are some concerns.
“Of course, our concern is always what happens next. I mean, you expect to be busy over the weekend, and what we have seen is that the build-up started a bit earlier. People staying a bit longer,” he said.
He said the figures represent a nice trend, a reminder of pre-2008, but efforts should be made to have the rising figures maintained.
“At the same time, you have to balance that with the fact that a lot of hotels and accommodation properties are saying that during the course of next week, things tail off very precipitously.”
Meanwhile, newly appointed chairman of the Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce Diana Haddad took a hands-on approach during the Easter period, with respect to air and sea bridge transportation in Tobago.
She worked closely with the Airports Authority and Port Authority to ensure travellers reached their destination safely in Tobago.
On Good Friday, 150 passengers were on stand-by at Piarco International Airport.
After calls were made to Caribbean Airlines, additional aircraft were dispatched, and by noon, there were no passengers on the stand-by list.
Haddad said the ferry service via the Port of Scarborough and Port of Spain operated smoothly during the period.
Source: Trinidadexpress
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