Budget 2024: Minister Mitchell highlights T&T’s affordability, thriving tourism sector

Trinidad and Tobago: Tourism Minister Randall Mitchell, during the Appropriation Bill 2024 aka Budget 2024, highlighted the high cost of living in other countries, including the US, the UK, and Canada, stating that it is much more affordable to live in Trinidad and Tobago. 

He outlined, “You know, when you really understand the inflationary pressures and the cost of living, you have to talk to those people who travel outside of Trinidad and Tobago, or you have to travel yourself to the Caribbean or to Canada, the US, to the UK, travel and go and see in those countries, in our Caribbean neighbors as well as outside, what high cost of living really look like and feel like.”

The Minister emphasised that when one goes out there and experience the high cost of fuel, high cost of utilities, high cost of transportation and the high cost of accommodation, that is when the will know how good the government has it in Trinidad and Tobago. 

He also mentioned that the travelers speak in very hushed tones when they return to Trinidad and Tobago, and that is when one knows how sweet the island nation really is. 

Apart from highlighting the high cost of living in other countries, the Tourism Minister remarked that tourism is significant for job creation and directly and indirectly, it has a multiplying effect. 

In addition to this, Mitchell noted that according to the World Travel & Tourism Council in their economic impact report for 2024 the total contribution to Trinidad and Tobago GDP for 2023 was 7.3% which is equal to 15.2 billion TTD. Their 2024 estimates a contribution of 7.5 percent, which is equal to 16 billion TTD, he added. 

Cruise Tourism

While talking about the cruise tourism product, he said that it is significant to the economy and to the earning potential of the twin-island nation. 

According to him, for the average cruise ship that arrives to the shores, the cruise line spend around 30,000 USD on pilot fees, port dues and fees as well as passenger head tax. He mentioned that this excludes services and supplies to the vessel by their agents and fuel bunkering. 

Randall Mitchell emphasized that once the cruise passenger comes onshore, he or she spends on average around 50 USD on tours, food, souvenirs as well as other activities. 

He further talked about the previous cruise season and said that in 2023, there was a whopping 91 percent increase in arrivals with the arrival of 102 cruises to Trinidad and Tobago, bringing more than 100,000 passengers than the last season. 

A total of around 12 million USD was injected into the economy during the last cruise season 2023-2024, noted the Tourism Minister. 

Airlift and Air Arrivals 

Not only this, but air arrivals from foreign nations are up by 7.3 percent for the period of January to August 2024. Mitchell stated that there has been an increase in airlift to and from Trinidad and Tobago with the addition of services by several airlines as follows:

• Copa Airlines: 10 flights per week with connectives through North, Central and South America
• Frontier Airlines: began flights from Puerto Rico in July 2024
• United Airlines: resumed flights from New Jersey to Port of Spain route for Christmas 2024 and Carnival 2025
• Caribbean Airlines: added new services to Puerto Rico and Martinique 
• Sport Tourism in Trinidad and Tobago

Highlighting the significance of Trinidad and Tobago in the twin island nation, the Minister said that in May 2024, the island concluded a successful ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and recently, a successful CPL tournament, which added to the local sporting tourism sector. 

In a Visitor Exit Survey conducted by Tourism Trinidad Limited between June 18 and June 27, 2024, 72% of respondents said that they arrived to the island through a Caribbean Airlines flight, hence boosting revenue generation for the local airline, highlighted the Minister. 

He further shed light on the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup which stimulated economic growth for Trinidad and Tobago through visitor and domestic spending, corporate participation and much more. 

Mitchell outlined the data from TTL’s exit survey, visitor expenditure was around US$833 per person accounting for transport, accommodation, food and leisure activities. He added that locals also spent significantly on merchandise, tickets, food and other related expenses. 

Accommodation Sector

In the accommodation sector, Tourism Minister Mitchell said that the growth is forecasted at 2.5 percent over this financial year. He added that this sector is important to both the tourism sector and the broader economy for several reasons apart from growth in the nonoil sector. 

The Minister mentioned that the hotel occupancy continues to increase and in 2024, with respect to Hotel Tax and Hotel Room Tax which is charged at 10% on rooms, Trinidad collected around 55 million TTD in Room Tax and Tobago collected around 8 million TTD in room tax.

Not only this, but in fiscal year 2023-2024, four contracts were put in place including Xquisite Villa, Courtyard by Marriott, Tradewinds Hotel and Airport Suites Limited.

Randall Mitchell stated that in addition to these projects, ten projects are targeted for fiscal year 2025, with two small accommodation providers in the 1 to 5-room category, consistent with the national objective of supporting the SME sector.