Trinidad & Tobago

In global terms, Trinidad and Tobago ranks as a small, if well established, national market for insurance. General insurers wrote gross premiums of around TT$3.20bn ($494.1m) in 2013, while life and health insurers wrote gross premiums of about TT$3.4bn ($524.3m), according to figures published by the Association of T&T Insurance Companies (ATTIC), the industry trade...

The country’s annual Carnival celebration is a unique and distinctive event, and as such has the potential to play an even greater role than it already does in the local tourism industry. National Geographic magazine lists the Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago as one of the world’s “Top 10 Pre-Lenten Celebrations”, noting that the custom was started in...

Tourism plays a significant role in Trinidad and Tobago’s economy. But unlike much of the rest of the Caribbean, where tourism is the most important industry, in T&T it is of secondary importance, behind the energy sector and on a somewhat lower level than financial services and manufacturing. Like Cuba, T&T differs from the rest of its Caribbean peers because it...

The contribution of cruise ship visits to the wider tourism industry is subject to some debate. It is generally agreed that Trinidad and Tobago receives fewer cruise ship visits than other parts of the Caribbean. Some propose policies to correct this and try to attract more ships. Others argue that cruise ship tourism – described as bringing in large numbers of visitors...