President of the Dominica Community Tourism Association Inc (DCTAI), Josephine Dublin- Prince has said the whole concept of community tourism is about “ourselves”.
According to her, tourism is everybody’s business and it should remain that way.
Prince was addressing the DCTAI 3rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the Canefield Urban Council Conference room on Thursday.
“We say that tourism is everybody’s business and it should be because as Dominica, we say it is the Nature Island of the world, and sometimes we look around and wonder whether really it is the nature island,” Prince stated. “When we see the poor management of Solid Waste, when we see the disrespect for our rivers, when we throw things here there and everywhere, then it comes back to us through floods and affect us tremendously.”
She said also that collaboration is important in order for community tourism to survive and strive.
“In terms of collaboration, in terms of networking we have to meet each other almost all of the way if community tourism is to survive and strive,” she said.
She revealed that the association has been affected in the past in a negative way by slow response from policy makers.
On two occasions, she said, activities were organized for staging Creole in the North but at “both of them there were no officials from the government, other than the Parliamentary Representative.”
“That speaks volumes,” she said. “Because we have the majority of the parliamentary representatives in the north and that is one area showcasing what the north really presents out of the hard work of the various farmers, the craft makers, those who are involved in cultural activities. So if we are to move forward all those synergies must come together and together we will move forward.”
Meanwhile Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Discover Dominica Authority (DDA), Colin Piper, said the whole aspect of sustainable tourism is something that is important.
“Not just sustainable in terms of is it green, but sustainable in terms of other practices that you are putting together right now going to be able to stand the test of time,” he stated.
He also believes that there should be a collaborative effort to maintain sustainable tourism.
“I recall last year mentioning that certainly the community tourism organization should be meeting with the tour operators who has the contacts on the cruise ships,” he explained. “I am not sure if it was as a result of that or whether things was already in the works and I just emphasized, but I know that there may have been some advances in that and maybe some other organizations has benefited as a result of that relationship.”
He encourages that sought of dialogue particularly from a cruise standpoint and also taking another step from the stay-over business standpoint.
“Some of the stay-over visitors may also be interested in partnering with you, so I would suggest that you extend your conversations beyond the cruise and to include stay-over as well,” he said. “One of the reasons I mentioned that is stay-over visitors are responsible for 15 percent of the population coming to Dominica.”
He added, “The stay-over visitors stay on average, four days to seven days, some even longer, So if they enjoyed your experience and they had done it on day one or day two, maybe you won’t get them again but maybe one of your partners will get them for some time when they are there.”
Piper told the association that it is important to know their product inside out.
“You need to have faith and belief in your product because that to a certain extent is where the value is,” he noted. “More importantly you need to be able to sell your product by telling people how it is going to benefit them.”
Are you people in your right mind, or simply like to talk nonsense! For instance, Piper claims that “overnight tourist might want to partner with you! ”
I would like to ask Piper, or whoever: ‘partners’ in what and with who? You people are acting as if tourism is new to the world, and Dominica is such a unique place that the visitor who over night will wake up in the morning, and simply look at some and say; hello I want to partner with you! There is nothing special about a tourist, some are as poor, all they want is a good vacation. Any visitor to Dominica is an tourist.
Next week, I will be a tourist, my first port of call will be Las Vegas, then Reno, I going to gamble, then I will go to Loafling, Nevada, then Arizona, when me money done I head back to Los Angeles.
A tourist is simply someone that makes a tour for pleasure or culture, you people appear frightened, people laugh at you all, and your baloney!
I’m in agreement with the 1st comment because if we look at st maarten, i
tourism is one othe subject that is being tought in their school.
Dominica ministers and those in authority spend too much time travelling abroad without recognising what is best for the country. we should have learnt alot from our neighbouring countries and further afield over the last 25 years. Those in authorities need to have our national anthem displayed in their office and make it their business to recite all three standard each morning and end of work. Maybe, just maybe that would make them more passionate about our beloved DOMINICA and strive to bring excellent service.
Tourism should form part of the school curriculum from preschool to the State college. This should prepare the next generation for the hospitality industry.
Pedro can you name one elementary, or secondary school, or college, or university anywhere where tourism is part of the educational curriculum? Another simply definition of tourism is traveling for recreation.
We can expand on that by saying the guidance or management of tourist, the promotion, or encouragement of touring, and the accommodation of visitors. It might serve a better purpose to introduce elementary students at an early stage to math, and science
Get them involve into upper level math, get them involve into real science which may help them to help change the world. When the cell phone was first invented in Israel no one expected it to make the world become such a narrow place, the apply to the Computer, and the Internet, it is science which gives us the ability to travel by air also. The man who created the search engine that we all use is a Black born in Barbados.
Well said, the government should invest in the people and our farms, so Dominica becomes the organic food producer of the caribbean.