Hoteliers: More than $200m lost

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - THE $200 million loss in tourism revenue that Trinidad and Tobago suffers annually due to crime is a "conservative estimate", industry experts said yesterday. "I am absolutely convinced it is costing the country a huge amount of money. I think $200 million is conservative because that is just lost opportunity through fears of crime, but I would imagine it would cost businesses more in crime prevention practices," Tobago Hotel and Restaurant Association president Nicholas Hardwicke told the Express yesterday in a telephone interview. At the CARICOM Inter-Sessional meeting on strengthening regional crime and security in Haiti on Monday, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said Trinidad and Tobago loses an estimated US$35 million a year in tourism revenue because of crime.