Should we go?

[Vicky knox]

Hi there,

We are due to visit Tobago in November for the fourth time since getting married there six years ago. But after the weekend's events we just don't know what to think and we are considering cancelling. Can anyone give me their opinion on whether Tobago really is still relatively safe to visit with young family if the usual sensible security precautions are taken? Or is personal safety now just a case of luck? Ok, so this might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I feel so sickened at the thought of what Tobago seems to turning into. We have 3 kids, the oldest will be 4 when we are due to go. We will be staying in a villa with a 24hour guard and an alarm / intercom system, but I can now imagine feeling generally uneasy and vulnerable while on holiday there, which isn't what holidays are supposed to be about! This is in such stark contrast to how we felt about Tobago when we fell in love with the island 6 years ago.

Rapes, murders, robberies, kidnapping......between this and swine flu( which of course would apply to travel anywhere in the world right now ) the thought of travelling to Tobago is becoming really quite scary. How incredibly sad.

Is anyone else in a similar situation and if so, are you still planning on travelling?
Vicky

[Andy K]

Vicky,

violent crime is still the exemption and not the rule in Tobago. That of course lets such an incident grow even more
in importance. I don't like the effect this has on tourism, it scares away a lot of people, who would otherwise enjoy
beautiful holidays on the island.
All the contributions made in the thread below reflect disgust about the recent incident as such and lots of criticism for the authorities. I am not exactly happy about the impact this thread as such may have on it's readers who are not
or not fully informed about the situation in Tobago.

To cut a long story short: Yes i will still recommend to come to Tobago as you did in the past and the probability that
you will enjoy yourself is very high.

Regards

Andy

[Caribstu]

Unfortunately I'm fairly sure you're not the only person who is thinking this way. The reality is that thousands of people come to Tobago and have a perfectly wonderful experience and the chances are so will you. I agree with a lot written in these threads and some i strongly disagree though i also agree that these recent incidents have been misrepresented by the international media. Of course they have a right to report on such matters but niether of these brutal incidents involved tourists. I think in general tourists dont have too much to worry about, no more than going anywhere else in the world. Partly it depends on where you stay, where you frequent and how you interact.

Google "Tourist Murdered" and you'll see In the last 12 months tourists have been murdered in Spain, Cuba, several in Thailand, Puerto Rico, several in Antigua, India, Dom Rep, I lost count of how many in Mexico and several in China even one at the Beijing Olympics, would you have cancelled your trip to any of those places? Or would you have cancelled your trip to the Olympics after the American was stabbed in the street? Have you ever seen the crime statistics for Miami? or Florida, which is still the number one destination for UK tourists. Six years ago in St Lucia i witnessed two tourists robbed on a popular beach in broad daylight by two men brandishing cutlasses, that was six years ago, (and by all accounts according to friends who live there it happens fairly often there), but how many people still go there on honeymoon?

The reality is that the crime figures for Tobago are very low, they are however collective with Trinidad so seem disproportionate for the size and population of the island, and what crime there is generally does not affect tourists, even these recent attacks were not tourist related. That's not to say things dont happen to tourists, that would be naive and stupid, thanks to cable and satellite TV we are now dealing with the Americanisation of Caribbean youth culture and it's negative effects, but these attacks were extreme and rare and people should understand it's not the norm, even so tourists should not allow this kind of thing to deter them from coming to what is fundamentally a fantastic place to holiday, because if you did, you'd never step out of your house and you'd end up living in a bubble, and with the best will in the world you could go online and research and find somewhere seemingly safe like Phuket, Goa or Cancun and still end up a statistic.

So no, dont cancel.

[Paul Tallet]

I believe that the real point is our perception of Tobago.

There are places in the world where it is accepted that it can be dangerous and we still go. In fact I cannot think of anywhere that is not potentially dangerous.

On the other hand, there are places like Tobago that have been described and seen as exclusively beautiful and idyllic holiday destinations and this seems to raise the bar in terms of peoples' expectations.

As a consequence, the concept of danger is much harder to accept and incidents such as the recent one seem all the more shocking ... the reporting about follow up actions and the increasingly apparent inability of the authorities to handle these situations makes matters worse ... but then what should we expect?

If visitors (or potential visitors) can see Tobago as another ordinary holiday destination and take the usual precautions about personal security then it as safe a place to go as anywhere.

I will be returning, there is no doubt about that.


Regards

[Brian Taylor]

maybe I finally meet you in the boathouse then, paul...

well said stu!

steph

[SandraK]

Yes, you should !
We do not intend to cancel - would be paramount to giving in . Have met nothing but kindness and good humour on the island, always felt safe and no doubt will next time.
Nowhere on the planet is immune from horrendous crime, these days that is a simple fact. Take normal precautions and you will have a great time. Even the guys that pester you on the beach, on the road etc. will back down with a firm "No Thank you ".
We have made good friends in Tobago - most people are - remember that and enjoy !!

[Paul Tallet]

Of course you will Steph ...

Regards

[Bill B]

Vicky,

My wife and I will be returning to Tobago for the third time next March. I appreciate your concerns but unfortunately it's impossible to avoid crime virtually anywhere in the world. Here is a link to the Bermuda Police Crime report http://www.police.bm/content/crime-statistics As you can see there were 5 murders and numerous assaults etc. in 2008. I point this out not to imply that Bermuda is either safe nor unsafe but to put crime in Tobago in perspective. When crime occurs in a place we live in and are comfortable with it usually is not so alarming, as we "know" where and when to avoid certain places or situations. When it occurs someplace we are visiting, where we are unsure of our surroundings, it can become scary.

Following the usual precautions should leave you no more unsafe in Tobago than at home. Go, have a good time and give us a trip report when you return.

Bill

[Terry K]

We also have a trip scheduled in December and were concerned about safety issues but decided to go anyway. It seems that when you are in a small country just one incident can take over the perception of the level of safety. We made our decision based on the many people who have told us how friendly the people are as well as the fact that these occurrences are fairly rare. My belief is that you shouldn't be naive, but you can't let fear run your life either. If I paid attention to the press, I never would have had 1/2 the fantastic experiences I have had traveling around the globe.

[Sean Hubbard]

Whilst I can appreciate that the damage limitation mill is in operation and people still have to make a living in Tobago, let’s not trivialise the fact that in under the space of a year ,there have been three expats/tourists/foreigners murdered and two attempted murders. Not to mention the dozen or so muggings, robberies and attempted rapes, this is not media hype it’s plain fact. The British foreign office have patiently held off from issuing a travel advisory advising caution when travelling to Tobago for two years (Trinidad has had one issued for a number of years), I believe the attack on the Greens was the last straw, after all the British government has a responsibly to their citizens. Yes I agree that crime happens everywhere, I travel on business to what is considered to be some of the most dangerous countries in the world, however I have seen the situation progressively worsen in Tobago (not to mention Trinidad) over the last few years from violent attack to murder, it is becoming the norm, however some people just don’t want to accept that fact. I for one will always return to T&T, I think every everyone has to make their own minds up really, and lets hope the T&T government can get the serious crime situation under control.

[Brian Taylor]

just a short comment on the last one: this is not the mill running of tobago businesses trying to get guests to come here....all of the comments made before are made by people who are just tourists themselves (even if they are spare time weather gods) except for stu and me and we are not only business owners but foreigners living here and obviously not feeling so unsafe that we think about leaving. just to put that in perspective!

and yes, surely everyone has to make up their own mind, who wants to be responsible for another ones desicions, but I guess it is reassuring to hear from some other folks how they decide in the same matter.

we all hope that the gouvernment does something at last...unfortunately tobago is not the place where collecting sigatures on petitions does anything at all, so we don't know what to do ourselves apart from keeping our eyes open for each other in our villages and keep speaking up to the police if we have information! and that we shall do.

sunny greetings
steph

[Vicky knox]

Thank you so much for all your replies. Of course you are all correct, and I must admit that my initial reaction was probably a bit over the top - I'm just a bit of a 'worrier'!!

I have now taken a few deep breaths, calmed down and we have of course decided to go ahead with the holiday.

Thanks!
Vicky

[Caribstu]

In response. I'm not going to pretend our only thoughts are for the families affected and lie and say that as a business owner we are not concerned about how it affects us. Of course we all think about that. But I'm also not going to lie to potential clients and visitors and say "oh it's perfectly safe" if i know full well that it's not. The fact is i do honestly believe that for the most part Tobago is a safe place for tourists to visit, and for expats, and as i said in a previous thread what crime there is against tourists in Tobago seems to be localised and in comparison to many other destinations in the world is small, though obviously any victim of a crime would not see it as small. Having traveled the world extensively I HONESTLY feel Tobago is one of the safest places in the world ( after the Health & Safety capital of the world Sweden of course!). We have been based in Charlotteville for four and a half years and in all that time I have heard of only two incidents involving crimes against tourists. One was not a tourist per say, but were the organisers of the TTGFA tournament. The bandits who stole their things were apprehended within 24 hours, arrested and charged and eventually locked up. They were outsiders from Trinidad by the way. The second incident involved a tourist who claimed to have a lot of stuff stolen, laptops, cameras etc.. and yet there was no evidence of any break in and no one in the village knew anything. I want to point out that there is a very good relationship in Charlotteville between tourists, yachties and locals, a lot of inter action and i think because of the nature of the accommodation style ( no hotels only self catering guesthouse apartments) the location attracts a different sort of visitor, rather like in Castara, it's more people who really want to get away from it all and experience the "old" Caribbean style. I say that because the community relies heavily on tourism and simply do not tollerate crimes against tourists and the whole "vibe" is different. And it that is partly why i suspect the second so called theft was an insurance scam because no one knew or had heard anything, it' just seemed off key.

I say this because i was thinking about this analogy a lot yesterday.

Imagine a potential tourist visitor to England living in the USA , a country with one of the highest crime and murder rates in the world, an estimated 16,000 people killed each year from gun crime, and 800,000 per yer go missing presumed dead ( half the entire population of Trinidad & Tobago) and they are planning a trip to Bude in Cornwall England when they hear about crime in Harlesden, London and decide to cancel their trip to Cornwall. That's how it seems to me, when tourists who live in countries with ridiculously high crime statistics think about cancelling a trip to Tobago, particularity our end, Charlotteville, Speyside, Castara, because of crimes which are either mostly in Trinidad or localised in Tobago.

[Tony G]

My wife, Janette, and I will be back to Tobago for the fourth time in January 2010. We have had no thoughts of cancelling. Castara and its people have a special place in my heart and we have only ever been treated with kindness and respect. Of course one can only go on one's own experiences but I have always felt a thousand times safer on the island than I do walking the main drag of my own town on a friday or saturday night. We really have to believe that the vast majority of people, wherever they are in the world, are good, honest, friendly and just trying to get along the best they can. And this has been my experience in life. If we start travelling the road of suspicion we are lost. There will be nowhere for us to go. We may as well prepare the bunker and roll out the razor wire right now.

Maybe we'll all meet up in da Boathouse

Love to All

The old hippie himself.

[Chris Runciman]

I am really looking forward to being at 'home' againin Castara in January!
Paul T, Steph & Brian I know but it will be good to meet up with a few other people that I only know from this forum!
I quote from a recent guest to our place only last week!
"There is some negative publicity about safety in Tobago, but we felt very safe"
Beer anyone?
The other old 'ippie!

[Sharon Keeler]

I, too, will be returning to Tobago. This my 9th visit. Despite the recent news I still believe it is a relatively safe place. Certainly safer than where I live in Phoenix, Ariz. And I've never had occasion while I have been there to fear for my safety.

[Paul Tallet]

Hi Chris ... good to see you are still alive.

I hope to be there next February ... yet to be confirmed.

Regards

[Chris Runciman]

Well it looks as though Castara is going to have a fair number of Mytobago contributors visiting in the New Year! My wife Yvonne and I will be there for an extended stay and look forward to meeting you all in the flesh.........if you'll pardon the expression!
May have to organise an 'at home' up at our place then? Paul T on the BBQ maybe?
'Professor' & 'Mrs Professor'