Tourism
From The Report: Trinidad & Tobago 2015
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Though tourism plays a significant role in T&T’s economy, unlike other Caribbean economies, it is not the most important sector. Its total contribution to GDP in 2013 was $1.26bn, or 3.1%, and the industry directly and indirectly employed 27,500 people, or 4.5%. In the past decade, arrivals have fluctuated between a low of 388,000 in 2010, reflecting the global slump in 2008-09, and a high of just over 460,000, achieved in 2004-05, before the financial crisis. In 2014 a total of 461,267 visitors came to T&T, down 1.2% from the previous year. Even so, tourism remains the top services sector revenue earner, generating $1.29bn worth of receipts in 2013, equivalent to 4.8% of total exports. In the light of the recent rapprochement between the US and Cuba, the larger Caribbean tourism industry could be set to see some realignment in the coming years. This chapter contains an interview with Keith Chin, CEO, Tourism Development Company (TDC).

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Trinidad and Tobago is looking to attract a larger share of visitors to the region
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Tourism plays a significant role in Trinidad and Tobago’s economy. But unlike much of the rest of the Caribbean, where tourism is the most important industry, in T&T it is of secondary importance, behind the energy sector and on a somewhat lower level than financial services and manufacturing. Like Cuba, T&T differs from the rest of its Caribbean peers because it has a much more diversified economy. This has created both advantages and disadvantages for the local tourism industry. Among…

Interview

Keith Chin, CEO, Tourism Development Company (TDC): Interview
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Interview:Keith Chin What market segments are being targeted by Trinidad and Tobago’s tourism industry? KEITH CHIN: T&T has a wide range of touristic products on offer, making it a more diversified tourist destination than other Caribbean islands. Firstly, we have the leisure market, with Tobago being at the forefront of this segment and Trinidad being increasingly able to offer highstandard beach locations. In fact, the Las Cuevas beach in Trinidad was the first to receive the Blue…

Analysis

Figuring out how to make the most of Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival festivities
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The country’s annual Carnival celebration is a unique and distinctive event, and as such has the potential to play an even greater role than it already does in the local tourism industry. National Geographic magazine lists the Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago as one of the world’s “Top 10 Pre-Lenten Celebrations”, noting that the custom was started in the late 1700s by the French as a masquerade ball for the island elite, but subsequently grew into an “egalitarian street spectacle” and,…

Analysis

A proposed southern loop could help boost the number of cruise ship visitors to Trinidad and Tobago
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The contribution of cruise ship visits to the wider tourism industry is subject to some debate. It is generally agreed that Trinidad and Tobago receives fewer cruise ship visits than other parts of the Caribbean. Some propose policies to correct this and try to attract more ships. Others argue that cruise ship tourism – described as bringing in large numbers of visitors with a low per capita spend – should simply be given less priority within the overall mix of different types of tourism. Cruise…