The latest passenger figures should be a wake up call for Trinidad and Tobago. If Piarco handled only about 185,000 international passengers in June 2026, compared with 385,000 in 2025, we need to ask a very uncomfortable question: what are we doing wrong?
Look at our competitors. Barbados attracts about 1 million visitors, the Dominican Republic about 3 million and Jamaica about 5 million. Meanwhile, Tobago’s ANR Robinson International Airport has substantial capacity, yet international traffic remains painfully low.
We keep investing in infrastructure, but where is the aggressive strategy to fill the seats?
T&T needs to go after airlines, not wait for them. We need direct flights from major North American, European, Latin American and regional markets, backed by serious destination marketing and incentives for new routes.
Trinidad and Tobago has Carnival, steelpan, culture, cuisine, nature, business tourism and Tobago’s world-class beaches. The product is there. What is missing is the marketing, airlift and urgency.
There is little point building airports capable of handling millions of passengers if we cannot attract the passengers. T&T needs to stop talking about tourism and start competing for tourists.
Gordon Laughlin,
Westmoorings
