page_title: Tobago
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Tobago / Economy
caption_attribution_description: English: Panoramic shot of Downtown Scarborough, Tobago
context_page_description: Tobago is an island within the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located 35 kilometres northeast of the mainland of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada, about 160 kilometres off the coast of northeast Venezuela. According to the earliest English-language source cited in the Oxford English Dictionary, Tobago bore a name that has become the English word tobacco. The official bird of Tobago is the cocrico.
context_section_description: Tobago's main economy is based on tourism, fishing, and government spending, government spending being the largest. Tourism is still a fledgling industry and needs to be developed. The local governing body, the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), employs 62% of the labor force. 
  Tobago's economy is tightly linked with Trinidad which is based on liquefied natural gas (LNG), petrochemicals, and steel. The principal economic forces specific to Tobago are tourism and government spending. Conventional beach and water-sports tourism is largely in the southwest around the airport and the coastal strip. Meanwhile, ecotourism is growing in significance, much of it focused on the large area of protected forest in the centre and north of the main island and on Little Tobago, a small island off the main island's northeast tip.
  The southwestern tourist area around Crown Point, Store Bay, Buccoo Reef, and Pigeon Point has large expanses of sand and is dominated by resort-type developments. Tobago has many idyllic beaches along its coastline, especially those at Castara, Bloody Bay, and Englishman's Bay. Tobago is linked to the world through the Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson International Airport (formerly Crown Point Airport) and Scarborough harbour. Domestic flights connect Tobago with Trinidad, and international flights connect with the Caribbean and Europe. There is a daily fast ferry service between Port of Spain and Scarborough.
  Tobago was thought by some to have been the island that inspired Robinson Crusoe, but the book is probably based on some of the experiences of Alexander Selkirk, who was marooned in the Pacific's Juan Fernández Islands. Adding to the confusion, Tobago was the filming location for the Walt Disney movie Swiss Family Robinson in 1959.
caption: Panoramic shot of Downtown Scarborough, Tobago
exif: {"Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPhone 4S", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "8.1.3", "Image DateTime": "2015:02:27 12:50:36", "Image ExifOffset": "180", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[11, 10, 4061/100]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[60, 44, 2057/50]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "8", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[16, 50, 36]", "GPS GPSSpeedRef": "K", "GPS GPSSpeed": "0", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "T", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "104351/526", "GPS GPSDestBearingRef": "T", "GPS GPSDestBearing": "104351/526", "GPS GPSDate": "2015:02:27", "Image GPSInfo": "704", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/2907", "EXIF FNumber": "12/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:02:27 12:50:36", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:02:27 12:50:36", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "11931/1037", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4845/1918", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "4646/425", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "107/25", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "934", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "934", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3451", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2046", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "6", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "35", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[107/25, 107/25, 12/5, 12/5]", "EXIF LensMake": "Apple", "EXIF LensModel": "iPhone 4S back camera 4.28mm f/2.4"}