The Division of Tourism and Tobago Festivals Commission Limited have given the commitment that they are working assiduously to clear outstanding debts, some dating back to 2024.
This assurance was given by Secretary for Tourism, Antiquities and Creative Industries Zorisha Hackett during a press briefing on Friday.
“After the last Budget presentation we went to furthest back oldest bills all the way back to October 2024 Carnival we went into Rhythm and Soul, we went into Heritage, Blue Food. There are probably a few of the service providers for ushering to treat with but in terms of the providers externally, prizes we we treated with maybe 98 percent of it.”
Officials noted there remains several payments outstanding for 2025 Tobago Heritage Festival and Tobago Carnival. While Tobago Festivals Commission Chief Executive Officer Kern Cowan could not give a definite timeline for these payments, he assured they have developed a strategy to address the matter swiftly.
“So as the releases come, we are taking care of those bills, Blue Food outstanding, Tobago Carnival outstanding we are treating them as a priority. Myself along with the Division we are going to have a plan for our debts to ensure we can settle our debts at the shortest possible time.”
Secretary Hackett called on the TFCL to maintain communication with stakeholders and service providers on the status of their outstanding payments.