Interview with Tashia Grace Burris, Secretary of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation

25 Feb Interview with Tashia Grace Burris, Secretary of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation

Can you outline for our readers some of the measures you have taken to position Tobago as an unspoiled paradise in the Caribbean?
Tobago is well positioned as a destination and is seen as a unique island which presents something for everyone. Tobago’s imagery by its very nature exudes the sort of warm, welcoming and creative pull factors that allow for visitors to immerse themselves in unique experiences that blend culture, festivals and eco-tourism which allows for the entire island to be put on display.

As the existing slogan for our destination marketing suggests, Tobago is ‘unspoilt, untouched and undiscovered.’ This branding has been backed by our emphasis on providing a balanced marketing strategy in showing how the island allows for visitors to have an ‘all inclusive’ sort of experience not in the traditional sense within the premises of a hotel or resort, but presenting the entire island as the ultimate ‘all inclusive’ experience for all.

Diving, rainforest exploration, birding, turtle spotting as well as a host of other unique experiences are activities which Tobago has become known for. We have embarked on the development of several specific and pointed initiatives which target niche markets that Tobago can excel in and be able to attract even more visitors to our island as a result of. They include the Community Tourism Thrust which seeks to promote our communities across the island in having unique experiences to offer, allowing for Tobago’s people to get involved in a very intentional sort of manner regarding our tourism industry and tourism thrust internationally. In other words, the community and the island as a whole is your experience, it is your product. The ideology that we seek to uphold is that you can come as a stranger but yet leave as family.

Tobago through our community tourism initiatives and support for local service providers, tour guides, restaurants, cottage industry owners as well as property owners within those communities through training, certification and also strategic direction through our programmes offered will certainly add value to the overall product offering and serve to build capacity even further for community tourism efforts across our island.

What are the measures you are taking to improve the lives of communities in Tobago through tourism?

Community tourism also seeks to give Tobago a competitive edge internationally considering that post Covid-19, travelers have become more responsible and are focussed more so on unique, indigenous and immersive experiences. Travelers are also keen on experiencing a destination for what it truly is as opposed to staying within the confines of one particular establishment, resort or hotel. This is where Tobago scores big and provides that opportunity for exploration, experience and enjoyment for one and all.

In progressing with the development of our island’s tourism product offerings, sport tourism is considered as a great opportunity for economic activities locally and also as a mechanism which drives people and visitors to our island. Sport tourism encourages the travel of persons for non-business reasons to participate and or observe sporting activities and we see this as being an audience and a target market that can be captured for Tobago.

The construction of the Courland Beach Sporting Arena in Tobago and hosting of the Commonwealth Youth Games beach volleyball competition in 2023 demonstrates that we are committed to making Tobago a destination that can welcome international tournaments, visitors and sporting enthusiasts to our shores. With these brand new facilities, it lifts the profile of our island and gives us even more visibility for beach sporting events. This also presents an opportunity for international teams to do off-season or pre-season training right here in Tobago. Out of this, several economic activities can be stimulated and our accommodation sector seeks to benefit from this thrust.

Rocky Point hotel has seen stakeholder consultations for possible development and the government is looking to divest the Magdalena Grand Hotel. What opportunities are there for property development from the US or elsewhere?

For Rocky Point, just as any other hotel development, consultation is required and we see this as a chance to increase our island’s room stock. Certainly when a developer and a brand like Marriott sees the value in our destination, this is something that we must pay attention to. While Tobago traditionally was not necessarily seen as a destination that presented large scale or branded hotels to visitors, we see an opportunity to capitalize on a more balanced offering and the island presenting something for everyone. It also presents a good opportunity for increasing movement through airlift to Tobago. Brands such as the Marriott would command a certain attractiveness by airlines and air carriers internationally, particularly in the United States, Canada and Europe.

As our largest hotel plant on the island, the announcement of the divestment of the Magdalena Grand Hotel can actually serve to benefit the island. Divestment is always a tricky space to navigate, considering that finding the right buyer or operator is sometimes a challenge, but with the uptick in Tobago’s tourism numbers and even with the island gaining even further attention internationally, the hope is that an operator with the type of means and experience can come in and operate to a high standard.

As for the Tobago House of Assembly providing support, we always see marketing our destination as our first point of reference when considering hotel development, building of infrastructure and investment in tourism properties and assets. Our way of assisting is to build capacity for our local stakeholders and tourism industry workers so that when business like the Magdalena Grand Hotel is handed over to an investor, buyer or operator, we are ready as a destination and have done what is required to position our people, our workers and our industry to be ready for such developments.

Will there be greater room stock coming to Tobago in future?

Right now, we’re working with the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association to see how we can help them improve their current properties, as well as encouraging as many persons who have properties to register, because when we get an idea of what the room stock consists of on the island — whether it be traditional hotels or guest houses, bed and breakfast, Airbnb, villas, hostels, even home stays — we can speak to the different markets. We could talk to people who want a kind of all-inclusive experience. We could talk to the people who are coming to be off-the-beaten-path and experience nature. We could talk to the people wanting sustainable community tourism and they want to stay in locally owned places and go where the locals hang out and where the locals eat. You have some people who want an exclusive type of experience, where they want to stay in a villa away from everybody else and they want personalized chefs and that kind of thing.

The beauty about Tobago is that it offers something for every type of traveler; we’re not skewed to one model over another. You can go from staying on all-inclusive for two days to staying in a villa for three days to staying in a small guest house in a community for two days to staying in an Airbnb somewhere in the middle of the island. You can make friends with a boat man and go camp on little Tobago Island if you want an outdoor experience. All these things you can do within one vacation and you don’t have to go too far. Nothing is too far from anything else — all those accommodation options might lie within an hour of each other within the same geographical space.

What are your targets for cruise tourism this year and how will you be welcoming tourists to Tobago’s unique offering?

The welcoming of 100,000 visitors coming from the cruise industry last year represents a 56% increase in cruise ship visitors for the 2024 season. This demonstrates that we have the capacity and the attractiveness as a destination to see even more cruise visitors. One of the key aspects of our cruise sector is the understanding of the basic needs of our cruise visitors and this administration is always looking for more ways to collaborate, support and ensure that stakeholders are well equipped and poised to welcome our cruise visitors.

Tobago’s cultural uniqueness as well as the natural landscape of Tobago always provides a pull factor which allows for the brief immersion of cruise passengers to get a taste of what our island has to offer. We understand that this uniqueness coupled with the culture of our people and rich culinary offerings would become even more popular among cruise visitors even when cruise lines that frequent Tobago can attest to some of the stories given by passengers on previous stops in Tobago.

We are looking to improve our customer experience by providing more near-port experiences for visitors by cruise, as well as creating that idea of safety and service for the cruise sector. At this time we are looking to build out a robust framework for tourism policing which allows for safe, smooth and customer friendly interactions while on shore for cruise visitors and guests to our island. One of our strategies going forward is to also have close consultation with our tourism service providers and tourism business so as to get them up to speed with customer service standards and to assist them with understanding the importance of the cruise industry and its economic benefits for Tobago as an island.

What are your targets for passenger numbers, aircraft movements and destinations for Tobago’s new airport? Which airlines will fly apart from one-per-week British Airways and seasonal Condor?

In terms of passenger numbers we would be taking a strategic approach firstly to market the destination with a view of welcoming the new airlift, along with our tourism property investments and the introduction of new hotels on the island. Based on these activities we can then give a proper estimate as to what can be expected in terms of arrival numbers to the island as a result of this new airport. Arrival numbers are measured based on airlift and access to our island, so the intention is to market the destination in a manner that is strategic and pointed, to encourage the airlift required to increase our numbers through the new airport. It is a step in the right direction as airlines and air-service providers usually look at the aviation facilities that are available in a destination. So a balanced approach (between tourism infrastructure, the new airport and marketing) is our objective at this time.

Traditionally our largest source market is the United Kingdom and then our German source market, so therefore some scaling up of efforts in Western Europe and even Scandinavia (Sweden in particular) would be required. The new airport presents an opportunity for large and medium carriers from Europe to see Tobago as a destination that is accessible and having the necessary facilities to service their respective needs regarding aircrafts, crew and other amenities.

As it relates to other markets, particularly the US, a new airport definitely gives us a competitive edge since carriers look at the facilities that are available and services associated. The capacity to accommodate multiple long haul aircraft is welcome and this assists us in handling the type of traffic to and from Tobago that would see our tourism industry benefiting in the long run.
As for other opportunities, there are many to be had for Tobago and this would spell economic benefits for our island. In the areas of aviation services, cargo handling and services as well as aviation education, we see this new airport as a contributor to all of these opportunities coming to fruition for our island, positioning Tobago as a sub-hub or even center for aviation based activities in the Southern Caribbean. While the larger of the twin-island state (Trinidad) boasts of a large airport with many amenities in and around, we now have an opportunity to provide even more and a second option for international aviation activities and even private aircraft handlers, owners and companies. Tobago can position itself as such as a result of this.

How important will Caribbean Airlines (CAL) be for the future airport and airlift?

Certainly, for us, in conversations with CAL there will have to be additional flights provided, because CAL has had an aggressive expansion plan into the rest of the Caribbean, because they are the largest inter-regional carrier. Even though there are carriers like LIAT and Intra-Caribbean, Caribbean Airlines has been trying to connect as much of the Caribbean together. But when we get our new airport, certainly we need to get our pound of flesh. We will be looking at CAL to really ensure that we have some connections between key markets, Miami being one of them and we’re looking at Guyana, the possibilities that exist in south of the Caribbean, Panama and definitely some more connections with our Caribbean neighbors, the ones that we share common history with. This would be Grenada, St Lucia, or St Vincent.

We have started the conversations with Caribbean Airlines and they are amenable and we are just going to ensure that by the time the airport opens, that we can make the announcement that Caribbean Airlines will now be expanding their services to Tobago and connecting us greater to the region and the rest of the world.

Final message to the readers of the Miami Herald and your expectations for the rest of 2024 and looking ahead to 2025

Tobago is your destination if you want a great balance of the traditional sun, sand, sea as well as breathtaking landscapes, picturesque nature-based and eco-tourism activities. If you want to truly experience ‘all inclusive’ then Tobago is the place for you. We can give you a little of everything including the opportunity for visitors to be immersed in culture, food, music, the arts, festivals as well as that warm, hospitable and charming personality coming from our people. We are ready, waiting and poised to welcome each visitor whether it is by plane, cruise, or even if you are doing business in Trinidad and want to experience the beauty, splendor and relaxation which Tobago offers, our island is the place for you.

Going forward Tobago is expected to position itself even further among our caribbean counterparts as our administration, leadership and even myself with responsibility for tourism, culture, antiquities and transportation seeks to place Tobago at several regional tables, to be a part of conversations, collaboration and partnerships that are geared towards further exposing our island to visitors, investment, exchanges and meaningful marketing.
Our Chief Secretary often uses a phrase which has become somewhat of a mantra that we stand by and urge our people to live by and that is to make Tobago the greatest little island on the planet. We have all the makings of it, we have the natural resources, the human capital as well as the uniqueness in location to back all of this. Tobago is the place where memories can be made, where you would be compelled to return and that you can find yourself feeling as though you have become a part of a family, a space and an island which seeks to leave you coming back again and again for more.
Traditionally, Tobago is called the ‘sister isle’ of Trinidad, but we have become in more recent times than the little sister of the region, which tells a story of our unique history, our unique cultural heritage, our unique practices and traditions. All of this and more makes Tobago a destination that you definitely do not want to miss out on experiencing. You simply have to come and it’s not just a destination that you visit, it’s a destination that you will feel.