Hotel and Guesthouse Upgrade Program – TAUP

Government provides upgrade assistance to hotel and guesthouse owners.

The Government announced an extension and expansion of the Trinidad and Tobago Tourism Accommodation Upgrade Project (TAUP). The period is for three years from October 1st, 2020 to September 30, 2023.

This tourism incentive was developed to assist Trinidad and Tobago’s tourism accommodation property owners/operators. This would upgrade their facilities to a first-class level. It is expected that they would meet and/or exceed the Trinidad and Tobago standard requirements for tourist accommodation. The resulting improvement in room stock quality is expected to enhance the overall competitiveness of the destination’s tourism product.

TAUP Hotel and Guesthouse Room Upgrade provides a reimbursement incentive. This is for the upgrade of Trinidad and Tobago’s small to medium sized tourism accommodation facilities. The project has evolved since 2014. Before, it provided an incentive for the upgrade of guestrooms only for properties with less than 100 rooms. Now, the incentive is for the upgrade of the interior or exterior of the property for accommodation facilities with 1 to 150 rooms.

Under the new TAUP Hotel and Guesthouse Room Upgrade program, eligible upgrade work has been specifically extended. It focuses on initiatives that enhance environmental sustainability and property attributes such as:

Mrs. Heidi Alert, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of Tourism Trinidad Limited, further explained the evolution of the TAUP initiative. She noted, “Even while we prioritise the health and safety of the nation, it is important to prepare for the future. It is also a time for innovation and adapting to future demands of travellers. It is hoped that by providing these types of investment incentives, accommodation providers will be encouraged to improve the overall product and even repackage their services to make it more attractive in this COVID-19 era and beyond.”

The incentives under the TAUP Hotel and Guesthouse Room Upgrade are administered in two categories:

Application Form – Small Tourism Properties
Application Form – Hotels and Guesthouses
TAUP – Scope of Work Template for Rooms and Other Areas

Tourism Trinidad continues to work closely with Trinidad’s stakeholders in the development of innovative programs. The aim is to provide the necessary support to tourism partners. It is also to restore industry vigour and growth within the shortest possible time. Tourism Trinidad has been supportive of the industry; implementing many initiatives to further improve the sector’s competitiveness. In collaboration with InvesTT, they are in the process of creating an inventory of sites in Trinidad which has the potential to be used for the development of private sector tourism projects.

The aim of this sites inventory is to bolster growth and diversify the tourism sector. This will encourage the private sector to invest more efficiently in innovative tourism products and experiences. The focus is on possible investment sites. These are for Business Hotels, Resort Hotels, Conference Centres, Theme Parks, Cultural Centres, Eco Lodges and Nature Resorts. Basically, it is for any other similar facility for use in the development and advancement of our tourism sector.

In September, the organisation started the roll-out of its industry capacity building activities on certification for COVID-19 Health and Safety. The capacity-building training is part of the many initiatives Tourism Trinidad is implementing to further develop globally competitive tourism businesses.

In conjunction with these initiatives, Tourism Trinidad has joined with over 25 tourism operators. These include hoteliers in a “Sweet Sweet Trinidad” Staycation program. This will run until December 2020 to revive the local tourism industry. It will provide revenues for tourism entrepreneurs upon relaxation of Stay at Home measures.

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