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the Royal's



It is so nice to be back home. As much as I (we) love to travel and experience all kinds of things there is something about your home that other places just cannot compete with. Bonnie of Williamsville, no, she was not a guest at the wedding, was so happy to see us she has not stopped racing around and jumping. At least there is a welcoming party when we arrived home.
We were able to see parts of the wedding and thought why not? If you can, do it. At least for the next week or so we will be treated to all kinds of behind the scenes information, dress issues, the now famous kiss, the ceremony, driving off in the E Type Jaguar. One thing I learned today was that I was actually born the same year the Queen was crowned Queen. That is about all I would have in common with the Royals. No, I don't have anything in common with the guy on the other side of the pond.

One of the reasons for the recent travel was to attend a conference on investment in tourism plant and infrastructure in the Caribbean region. It was very well attended with many of the big names in the business as part of the actual presentations and workshops. Listening to the experts give their take on the health of the region, especially after the 2017 hurricane season, and their companies' commitment to further investment was very reassuring, to say the least. An interesting fact that was brought out was that 70% of the region was untouched by the devastation even though the world news spoke of the destruction of the Caribbean by these vicious storms. Another area was how quickly the region recovered. Some quicker than others but all in all the region recovered to be able to accept visitors for this season. The hurricanes start in about two weeks, at least that's the official start of the season.
What I thought most interesting was the fact that the Rock was nowhere on anybody's radar. The Rock did have representatives at the meeting but I did not hear a single presenter single out the Rock as a place to be. We are not a preferred jurisdiction, we are not even under consideration by any investor for any investment of any kind. Speaking with a representative from Anguilla he indicated that it would take days for approvals. We do not even have a tourism investment policy far less an approval structure.
Why is this? Why do we do this to ourselves?  This nonsense of waiting for energy prices to recover, then to go and cuss up the same energy companies about how much money they stole from us to make stupid statements that 'we eh fraid them'. Based on what I learned at the recent conference no investor, energy or tourism, is going to consider making an investment of one penny in a country with that kind of talk.  People are prepared to risk billions of dollars, all they want is an assurance that their money is safe.
Tobago made a cardinal error when in the early 2000's they implemented a licensing regime for foreign ownership, without even a 'grandfather clause' which meant that if you were a foreigner who had already invested you were stuck, you lost your investment. This single act killed tourism in Tobago. The THA could jump through hoops of fire it will not change things. The confidence in investing in Tobago was destroyed by a single signature and no amount of ole talk from anyone, including the best salesman - the PMOTT, will change anything.


  • The tourism industry in the Caribbean region produced in excess of $38 billion USD for the period 2017.
  • There are 81 projects currently underway comprising 19, 377 new rooms.
  • There is not a single new hotel room under construction on the Rock. The last was in 2009, nine years ago.
When you look at the statistics you immediately recognize that a mammoth single all-inclusive resort is not exactly the answer to our problems. How about making the Rock an inviting place for investment, a territory open for business, where the PMOTT himself does not have to get involved in every deal.

One of the issues that is creating a problem for me is the issue of moral decay in our politics and society. I met a contractor the other day who told me in no uncertain terms that if he had not bribed his way through contracts he would be nothing. It is expected and it is part and parcel of the deal, on both sides. What a sorry state of affairs, and it looks as though we are going to repeat the same mistake in 2020. The people of the Rock must make the change, it cannot be business as usual. Any repeating of the mistakes and bribery and corruption of the past must be thrown out the window. Neither of the two existing parties in the Parliament can unequivocally state that they are not part of the regime that is on the take, neither of them.

To the Royal's we wish them all the best, to the people of the Rock, who were not invited to the wedding, there is hope, there is a bright future for all of us we just need to be serious and get the job done.

Good night and good luck!

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