Trinidad and Tobago Reopens to Tourists

• Trinidad and Tobago has expressed great optimism that its tourism industry will return to pre-pandemic levels following the lows of 2020 and 2021. 
• Trinidad's tourism sector has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, putting hundreds of employees on the breadline and forcing the closure of many tourism businesses, virtually changing the face of tourism. However, Chief Executive Officer, Kurtis Rudd, noted that with the country's borders reopening on July 17, 2021, after a 17-month closure to curb the spread of COVID-19, and the lifting of the State of Emergency, the country's tourist sites and attractions are now back on stream. 
• The country recorded 375,202 and 356,044 tourist arrivals in 2017 and 2018 respectively. However, with the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, along with the closure of T&T's air and sea ports to foreigners, arrivals dropped to 88,036 in 2020, and 2021 also saw arrivals plunging to 40,618. 
• With the country reopening, the focus is to rebuild the tourism industry through strategic marketing, new airlift, building synergistic stakeholder relationships and the improvement of product and service quality. Other mechanisms being implemented are the development and implementation of national tourism industry health safety standards, the nationwide tourism stakeholder sensitization sessions and continuous training of stakeholders to ensure competitiveness and sustainability.

(Source: Trinidad Express Newspapers)