Tobago’s hoteliers are reporting declines in bookings and forex collection, and General Manager of the Mount Irvine Bay Resort, Alpha Lorde, attributes this to the State of Emergency.
Speaking on TTT’s NOW Morning Show, Mr Lorde illustrated the trends that his resort and similar establishments have noticed.
“The unfortunate thing is it’s not easy to measure the effect because, you’re not able to easily determine who was intending to make a booking and have decided not to based on the media coverage internationally. But what we can definitely say is that we’ve seen a slowdown in bookings for the period, especially being the winter period. We would have had a higher occupancy at this time.”
Mr Lorde confirmed that the decline in bookings has not been matched by an up-tick in cancellations, and believes that the most promising solution is improved messaging.
“At this time, the communication from the government level needs to be a little clearer in the international markets; the Agency speaking doesn’t compare. Right, so I think there still needs to be a further level of communication to say, “We are open for business. Things are happening.”
Mr Lorde reminded that the Tobago Tourism product is internationally qualified and acclaimed and ready for international and domestic visits.