Not sure if this should be in the jokes section or here???

[truetrini]

http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2012-05-10/minister-doubles-pavilion-debe-0

Minister: Doubles pavilion for Debe
Published:
Friday, May 11, 2012

Text Size:

 
Government is embarking on a plan for a doubles pavilion in Debe and a $13 million project to make Ariapita Avenue, Port-of-Spain, a tourism centre, says Tourism Minister Rupert Griffith. Both are part of an overall $37 million domestic tourism upgrade, Griffith said at yesterday’s weekly Government media conference at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair. He said Cabinet had approved several domestic tourism projects in Trinidad. Griffith said the Debe doubles pavilion plan, encompassing a block, would allow space for eight more vendors as well as the vendors already in the area. He said the facility would conform to health and Environmental Management Authority standards.
 
Griffith said the area could be a tourism hotspot and since doubles was now recognised globally as part of indigenous cuisine, T&T also could become a doubles centre.. He did not give the pavilion’s cost. He said talks on the Ariapita Avenue project had been held with the Port-of-Spain City Corporation, business people, residents of the community and other stakeholders. He said it was proposed to divert traffic from the area and establish kiosks , as well as signage, tree cultivation and food courts. He said other plans included a $1.9 million Amerindian village on 25 acres of Blanchisseuse Road land, with which the Santa Rosa Carib community was assisting. This was part of the heritage tourism thrust, he added. Griffith said the redeveloped Knollys’ Tunnel, Tabaquite, would be reopened this week. He said also carded for redevelopment, in a $4 million plan for central Trinidad, were the Lion House, the Indo-Caribbean Museum and the Temple in the Sea.
 
Other projects included a $5 million upgrade for the Las Cuevas beach facility, including testing the water to ensure it was safe for bathing. He said a $5 million upgrade was planned for Vessigny beach as well as enhancing the La Brea pitch lake project. Other upgrades were planned for Los Iros, Quinam and Columbus Bay beaches, he said. Also part of the plan, the minister added, were the Queen’s Park Savannah, Botanic Gardens and Brian Lara  Promenade. The plan included a $1.5 million tourism safety and security aspect, he said. Griffith said some funding for the plan was in the 2012 budget, while the rest would come from the 2013 budget’s Public Sector Investment Plan.

[Tallman]

Men go end up playing cricket in dat pavilion.

[Dutty]

:
Griffith said the area could be a tourism hotspot and since doubles was now recognised globally as part of indigenous cuisine, T&T also could become a doubles centre..

whaaaat boy we reach,, ah hear dey serve doubles inde last G8 summit

[weary1969]

I think we need a whole section 4 d PP

[Football supporter]

Someone told me that there is now a doubles app for blackberry!

[NYtriniwhiteboy..]

yeah called Doubles Directory or Eat Ah Doubles..Could be useful but it depends on users input to update the locations and times of doubles men. More people that have it the better it wud be.

[Touches]

From the letters to the editor

Trinidad Express

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/letters/Why_tourism_plan_will_fall_flat-151648905.html

Why tourism plan will fall flat

Story Created: May 15, 2012 at 10:58 PM ECT

Story Updated: May 15, 2012 at 10:58 PM ECT

Changing Ariapita Avenue into a "tourist resort" is such a bad idea it should be framed. Somebody in the Tourism Ministry appears to be unaware that visitors to the Caribbean are mostly interested in sun, sand and sea. After that come the quaint houses and the local dishes.

Getting too modernised will kill off any appeal to the senses of the First World travellers. Who wants to pay through the nose to see food courts and stores that they can seen back home?

There is nothing special about our shopping malls. Absolutely nothing. Been there and seen bigger and better than we can ever afford to build.

Where will the influx of visitors originate? Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, the UK, the US, Iceland, Finland, Sweden—are all struggling with high unemployment rates and sagging economies.

Caribbean holidays are too expensive, have always been too expensive and will continue to be expensive because of the vast distances to be covered just to get here. Spare a thought for the fact that visitors' visas are hard to get for the US simply because they cannot afford to have Trinis taking the small jobs. It is survival of the fittest in the US and all of Europe.

The rich and famous might come to see our Carnival, but by and large, most of our Carnival and year round visitors are returning residents. The cruise ship clientele only stop off for one day. The cruise ship industry is having just as hard a time as anybody. The average man in the street is remaining at home or only travelling within a certain affordable range.

Take another good look at the map of the world and appreciate that, realistically, T&T is at the furthest and most expensive end of the Caribbean Sea.

Am I raining on the Minister of Tourism's parade? Is he planning to have goat racing down Ariapita Avenue? And, is it true that the new boardwalk in Chaguaramas is made of plastic? No sand to sift between your toes?

And last, but by no means least, how are we going to transport the visitors to Debe for the doubles in the heavy traffic, and back in time to get aboard the ships?

Lynette Joseph

via e-mail

[Touches]

I dont understand the rational of a doubles pavilion neither a woodbrook upgrade.

That not making nobody jump on no plane and hurry to "come on down"

If they want the biggest increase in tourism ever...pump that same money into national security and ketch some bandit and make here a bit safer for nationals and tourists alike.

We have plenty down here already to see and do...it's just we cant do it due to the crime situation.

[Ryan]

I dont understand the rational of a doubles pavilion neither a woodbrook upgrade.

That not making nobody jump on no plane and hurry to "come on down"

If they want the biggest increase in tourism ever...pump that same money into national security and ketch some bandit and make here a bit safer for nationals and tourists alike.

We have plenty down here already to see and do...it's just we cant do it due to the crime situation.

 

Until the crime situation improves I could never recommend Trinidad to anyone as a holiday destination.