Need to improve service industry: George on foreign investment
Chairman of the Tobago Business Chamber Martin George believes that for Trinidad and Tobago to get more foreign investment from tourism, improvements in the service industry and a repeal of the Foreign Investment Act for Tobago are needed.
“We have a lot of work to do. Look at the quality of service that we get, our service industry, and how our staff treats us in restaurants or bars: we don’t understand that culture of proper service and quality service that you get in other islands. So, therefore, we are not just going to magically wake up and reach to that point where we can rub shoulders with the heavyweights in the industry in the Caribbean,” he said in a WhatsApp response to the Express.
He was responding to comments last week by economic experts that tourism was a low-hanging fruit that could help bridge the gap in foreign reserves in T&T.
Speaking during the The University of the West Indies’ National Conversations Virtual Seminar “Reflecting on the Medium-Term Economic Situation in T&T”, Dr Bhoe Tewarie noted that the number of tourists visiting T&T was “embarrassingly low, and the expenditure by tourists was small. This, in my view, is a total policy mistake.”
As for the act, George said T&T needs to focus on the “immediate and conditional repeal of the Foreign Investment Act as it related to Tobago”, which he described as “easy, low-hanging fruit” since it could bring immediate results to Tobago and substantial foreign investments to Tobago.
“In fact, all the other Caribbean islands are light years ahead of us in terms of the development of their tourism product and the way they have marketed and positioned themselves,” he said.
He said it was wishful thinking that T&T would be able to “snap its fingers” and catch up to these countries.
BY: VISHANNA PHAGOO
Need to improve service industry: George on foreign investment
