Warren SolomonDirector-General of Tourism in Trinidad & Tobago

In an exclusive interview with Caribbean News Digital, Warren Solomon voiced his views about Vincent Vanderpool’s bid to become the next president of the CTO and talked extensively on the prospects of Trinidad & Tobago’s travel industry.

by Jose Carlos de Santiago

CND: What’s your opinion about Vincent Vanderpool?

WS: He’s an excellent professional who’s constantly looking for solutions and ideas to foster and advance tourism in the region.

CND: Do you see him as a man who’s been a key figure for the region or only for the Bahamas?

WS: For both. Even though he comes from the Bahamas, he’s a man of innovative ideas, a person who really feels and lives for tourism, someone who wants simply the best for the region.

CND: Do you think he’ll have the ability of bringing the Spanish-speaking and the English-speaking Caribbean together?

WS: I think (the CTO) really needs a change as an organization and it takes more than just one man to pull that off.

CND: What do you make of the CTO’s office in London, its chapter there and the marketing representation in Europe?

WS: In general terms, I don’t believe we must focus on marketing, but rather on trying to come up with actions to homogenize tourism in the region, to make the industry far more competitive and to achieve a more uniform distribution among the region’s different countries. And that can be attained through research and statistical tabbing.

CND: Do you think it’ll be necessary to find new market niches, say, emerging markets in the region?

WS: Yes, I do. This is also an important choice. I insist we shouldn’t be zeroing in so much on marketing, but try to go a tad further, instead.

CND: What’s the new promotional policy that Trinidad & Tobago is implementing right now to target the Latin American and U.S. markets?

WS: According to information that we have, the Latin American market is growing continuously. For Trinidad, the major outbound markets over the past four years have been Colombia and, above all, Venezuela. We must bear in mind that Venezuela is less than 10 miles off our shores, so that makes it a market we can’t ignore.

CND: Are you demanding visas for Venezuelan or Colombian travelers?

WS: No, it’s not necessary and we don’t demand them. Trinidad counts on English schools and they lure a considerable chunk of Venezuelan travelers to our country. Other allures worth mentioning are entertainment and sports, coupled with cultural values the country shares with these cultures and with the region on the whole.

Tobago is a new product. It’s now being seen as another country with a fledgling travel industry of its own and as a promising travel destination that is now being unearthed and looked at by the South American market.

CND: What does Brazil mean to Trinidad?

WS: Brazil and Argentina are the two biggest economies of South America. As a result of the crisis, we’re now weighing Colombia and Venezuela as two economies that truly bear watching in the region. In the same breath, I believe sooner rather than later, Brazil and Argentina will be back on top, as they used to be a decade ago. These four countries have clear-cut interests in Trinidad & Tobago. In the case of Argentina, this nation is interested in scuba diving, so we’re trying to find ways of carrying out that particular activity in Tobago.

CND: Do you consider the European market a key player in Trinidad and Tobago?

WS: Europe is a very important market for Trinidad & Tobago. Right now, Britain accounts for 11 percent of the region’s tourism. Germany, regardless of having a bogged-down economy right now, represents 4 percent of that total. Weekly flights from Austria, Netherlands and the U.K. are now operating. So, it’s no doubt an important region, and we believe Europe will continue cutting an increasingly bigger piece of pie with each passing year.

CND: Are there any flights or connections from Caracas, Miami, Puerto Rico’s San Juan or the Dominican Republic?

WS: As we speak, it’s not possible to fly from Europe to Trinidad on American Airlines, via Miami. Yet the flight from London is a whole lot easier.

CND: Is there any European airline, like Lufthansa, Iberia or KLM, that has signed any code-sharing agreement with some of the carriers that fly to Trinidad & Tobago?

WS: Germany’s Condor has two weekly flights from Frankfurt to Tobago.

CND: Iberia has recently opened new connections with Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama). Is there any chance of getting to Trinidad & Tobago from those destinations?

WS: There’re scores of possibilities because the government of Trinidad-Tobago is growing and negotiating with Cuba, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, so it’s very likely that we could cut deals to connect those countries with Trinidad & Tobago.

CND: China has put Trinidad & Tobago on the list of authorized travel destinations for its citizens. What’s your reaction?

WS: Right now, we’re not ready for the Chinese market, but it’s something we ought to do because, despite of the possibilities for Trinidad & Tobago, we should understand that those countries that do not open to the Chinese market in the future will be doomed.

CND: What are you going to ask from FITUR, the world’s second-largest travel fair, to have Trinidad & Tobago in its 2006 edition?

WS: We’re going to assess the information from the 2005 edition, and since we’re going to expand across Europe, we’ll have to keep FITUR on the radar screen.