The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) has expressed concern over the loss of cruise business from the southern Caribbean, following the announcement by Royal Caribbean International that it will reposition its ship, Serenade of the Seas, from the Caribbean to Europe in the summer of 2012.
According to Secretary General Hugh Riley, the CTO is aware that repositioning is a normal course of business within the cruise sector, particularly during the summer months.
However, members of CTO’s Executive Council of Ministers at a recent meeting, indicated the need to discuss the matter of summer cruising with some of the industry’s key players, with a view to developing strategies for improving the competitiveness of the Caribbean for summer cruising.
“We recognize that the strong comparative advantage that we have in the Caribbean in the winter months changes in the summer,” said Riley.
But while seasonal adjustments in cruise traffic to the Caribbean region are not uncommon, Riley said the situation now merits closer attention, particularly in the southern Caribbean where winter cruising continues to be strong, but summer traffic has become the victim of high fuel costs and geography.
The cruise industry is a significant component of the region’s tourism mix and the Caribbean remains a highly desirable cruising destination. In 2010 the region’s cruise passenger arrivals grew by six per cent, continuing the phenomenal growth experienced over the past four decades with the numbers climbing from just over one million cruise visits in 1970 to over 20 million last year. CTO leaders want this strong consumer demand for the region in the cruise industry to be developed year round, with more summer business resulting.
The Caribbean Tourism Organization is the region’s tourism development agency committed to working with its thirty-three member countries and industry partners to grow travel to the region and maintain the Caribbean’s position as the world’s leading warm weather tourism destination.
Don’t fret foriegners are buying up the land and planting all sorts of things, soon they will take over and locals will be envious watching them succeed. They already have thier links and see the need for the amazing organic fruits that can grow in Dominica. It would be nice if more young people in Dominica would respect the farmer and the soil.
Our terrain, high annual rain fall and lack of amenities leaves Dominica as a competing stepchild amongst it sister Caribbean counter parts. That being said, it is difficult to fathom an elected official seriously ignorning Dominica’s fertile soil and its ability to grow crops to feed itself.
A major sign of development is, export led growth through agriculture.
Nature tourism can only take us so far. As I’ve often said, after exploring rainforest all day long, where do you venture for fun and relaxation at night? We do not have a movie theatre or bowling alley on the island. Well illuminated roads are a premium at best.
As a result, we must understand who we are and make decisions accordingly.
you are so right my brother!!
What do we expect? the Cruise industry’s bottom line is profitability. The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) is very clear… the Caribbean does not have the strong comparative advantage in the summer (the hurricane months) as we have in the winter. In the winter the north is cold so people move to the Caribbean. In the summer the north gets warm just like the Caribbean so people stay in the north. But…they still want to cruise, so the cruise lines are simply repositioned to where the people are.
A similar situation happens in the hotel sector…in the winter hotels are generally full and during the summer generally empty. The only difference is unlike the cruiselines the hotels cannot move…the rest is history.
What then should our strategy be? …encourgae intra regional travel during the summer through increased regional marketing, discount hotel rates, cost of travel (flying and taking the ferry service) and purchasing other tourism products and services. Promote more summer based marketable events that will convince Caribbean nationals to stay in the Caribbean rather than visit North America or Europe duringthe summer months.
We have to recognize that things are tight everywhere (vacation money is in short supply) including our major markets in North America and Europe, so people tend to travel for shorter periods, stay closer home, especially in the summer and spend less. Just ask the experts at the CTO!
So…we have to continue to find inovative ways to improve our products and services, especially the delivery of quality customer service, improve air and sea access and make vacationing in the Caribbean more affordable.
Apply the above to Dominica and see if the above comments makes any sense…
well said, i totally agree with you on this!
This is just another nail in the coffin for tourism. I am very interested in hearing what Mr Ivor Nassief has to say on that.The same gentleman who was able to convince the DLP government to abandon agriculture and get into the SERVICE industry, so that we could be more dependent on the tourist dollar than on what we could produce to feed ourselves and sell over seas. I think by now Dominicans should see how FRAGILE the tourist industry is.
When I speak of agriculture I am not only talking of growing bananas, I strongly recommend diversification – grow a bit of everything. Do not put all your eggs in one basket, it is too risky!!
Great comment!!!! Ivor was only supporting his interest based on the core business his family is currently involved in needs tourist. It should be government responsibility to understand exactly how fragile the Tourism Industry is and not put ALL their eggs in one basket, after all Ivor does not grow bananas and would not have the expertise to see past his interest.
As “Going Bananas” said below, we must not willfully dismiss the importance of agriculture to our livelihood. Bananas is a staple of our agriculture industry and we must continue to explore ways to maximize profits in that sector. I work in the food business in the US and I can tell you it is a dynamic business. I intend to return home for good in the very near future and hopefully i will be able to deploy my 18 years of knowledge and experience in this business in North America to the benefit of Dominica. From the ins and out of doing business in a first world country, to contacts etc etc, I hope I will be able to assist in reviving this industry. So much can be done with organic farming – that is not only the rage but it is a highly profitable industry. Also, we must use all aspects of the banana tree – I wonder how many people in DA know that frozen banana leaves are sold on the market, primarily within the hispanic and asian communities. Thats just a start. We have a lot of land to produce other products. We need to look at all avenues.
how about placing a couple of well maintained, well constructed rest stops at certian points in the island. isn’t that whAT THEY ASKED FOR?
Our famous stepchild bananas might finally become the main corner stone from the stone the builder refused. While it may not be very visible to a lot of us but, ALL industrialized countries have always use agriculture to complement their growth through exports, intra-state trade etc. We need to come up with a better Agricultural strategy where our bananas will resurface together with other crops. The caribbean islands cannot control route changes as is the case in this article, but we can control our Agricultural production, product quality and negotiating marketing for sale of produce in this ever increasing food price. It is time that we address our food bill issue and lower the trade deficit of Dominica.