The Dominica Hotel & Tourism Association hosted the first bi-annual DHTA Issues Forum last week under the themes “improving the Visitor Experience” and “Improving the Investor Experience”, featuring presentations from six (6) public sector stakeholders and the Ministry of Tourism & Urban Renewal on several key crosscutting issues.
“The Forum is a platform for deeper public-private collaboration and accountability on the issues that impact the success all tourism businesses and industry stakeholders,” remarks Gregor Nassief, DHTA President. “We were pleased to host the leadership of the Ministry of Tourism and presentations from technical personnel from within various ministries and statutory bodies.”
Minister for Tourism & Urban Renewal, Honourable Robert Tonge notes, “The Government of Dominica, and especially the Ministry of Tourism is pleased to have attended the Forum, which provided the opportunity for the much needed Public-Private Partnership and dialogue.” The Minister further remarked, “The important thing is to have clear targets that we want to achieve, including action items to get us there, constantly monitor our progress, and make changes if required.” The Minister stressed the importance of first employing the right attitude, and investment in our people, “We all must invest in ourselves, our human capital and that of our products and services, including our properties.”
Presenters included: Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, Immigration & National Security, Customs & Excise Division, Dominica Police Force, Dominica Solid Waste Management Corporation, Invest Dominica Authority, and Discover Dominica Authority, on a series of issues ranging from immigration and customs procedures at our ports to vagrancy, litter, noise pollution and crime, as well as the review and implementation of the VAT, Fiscal Incentives and Standards Acts.
“The DHTA Issues Forum was an overwhelming success with 71 public and private stakeholders in attendance,” reported Stephanie Astaphan, DHTA Executive Vice President. “The Association will continue to advocate for the legitimate interests of our members towards identifying and implementing the appropriate actions and solutions to the issues. We look forward to follow-up action by both the private and public sectors, and a mutually beneficial partnership based on an understanding of the challenges faced on both sides.”
Special thanks to our 2015/16 Corporate Partners, our Platinum Partner Digicel (Dominica) Ltd, the Bigger Better Network; our Gold Partners GCM Gallagher Insurance Brokers (Barbados) Ltd, National Bank of Dominica Ltd and Ross University School of Medicine; and our Silver Partners AID Bank, Archipelago Trading, Belfast Estate, CIBC | First Caribbean, Energy Management Services, Island Car Rentals and dBiz Systems.
The Dominica Hotel & Tourism Association is a non-profit organization providing centralized and innovative information, advocacy, and leadership for the tourism industry in Dominica.
tourism is about the built environment and most of the hotels here are unattractive in fact the architecture here is lacking considerably. the hoteliers has to understand that every Caribbean country is blessed with natural resources some more than others but what differentiates them are their built contexts, the culture of aestheticism..!