Trafalgar Falls designated as premiere site for 2011/12 cruise ship season

Trafalgar Falls. Photo credit: planetware.com

The Trafalgar Falls has been designated as a premiere site for the 2011/12 cruise ship season.

It is a decision that the tourism minister Ian Douglas says was well planned.

This means, according to Douglas, that only organised tours will be able to access the area at certain times of the day.

He said, “Taxi drivers were the one who actually suggested that we adopt that approach. They said basically that there are alternative sites like the Emerald Pool, Fresh Water Lake, Soufriere, Middleham Falls and that they can continue to go to. That will allow the other sites to become more popular.”

Douglas said it will also take eliminate the crowding and traffic jam experienced at Trafalgar.

“All these issues will be taken care of, we believe, if we make Trafalgar a Premiere site,” he said.

The new initiative is among new measures to prevent under-pricing of tours on the ground.

Copyright 2012 Dominica News Online, DURAVISION INC. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.

Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member. All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.

We will delete comments that:

  • contain any material which violates or infringes the rights of any person, are defamatory or harassing or are purely ad hominem attacks
  • a reasonable person would consider abusive or profane
  • contain material which violates or encourages others to violate any applicable law
  • promote prejudice or prejudicial hatred of any kind
  • refer to people arrested or charged with a crime as though they had been found guilty
  • contain links to "chain letters", pornographic or obscene movies or graphic images
  • are off-topic and/or excessively long

See our full comment/user policy/agreement.

11 Comments

  1. DION
    September 4, 2011

    The problem with Dominica is that we like to solve problems on the surface and not at the root. It is clear to all that the primary cause of the pull out is that the cruise line was not making sufficient money based on the disembarkation rate in Dominica.And the main reason for this concern is the underpricing of the tours to the various sites. this is contributing to the low expenditure by cruise ship visitors to the destination.

    Merely designating Trafalgar falls a premiere site does not solve the problem of under pricing as indicated above.

    What is going to become of the revenue stream of the Trafalgar Village Council and the independent tour guides who service the site since organized tour provide their tour guides?

    What is the definition of a premiere site? Is there a different fee structure to what currently obtains? Are organize tour operators going to continue to get 5% commission on tickets which are already discounted? they are not selling tickets on behalf of the state like the other vendors. Are the organize tour operators going to continue to issuing tickets to only those who want to go to the attraction while the others use the washroom which has a cost to the village council? By the way carnival cruise by the their pull out have negated the contract they had with Government and so the State can institute a new fee regime for the site.

    Recommendations

    1.The transport board should set the price to get to the various designated Eco-tourist sites from the various cruise ship terminals to solve the underpricing issue.

    2. All non resident visitors should be in possession of a ticket once they access the site. Subsidizing the tourism industry is not an option for a small economy like ours.

    3.Additional regulations and a ticketing system or violation of national parks regulations.

    4. All service providers should be issued with a yearly permit to operate at the site. I am aware that the vendors pay a yearly fee.This should be extended to tour guides, Taxi drivers and Tour operators. This will help compensate for revenue lost by the state.

    5.Some from of procedure be put in place to expedite the hearing of national parks matters at our court or give power to the Director of Forestry to compound these of fences

    I have the strong feeling that if these recommendations are taken on board the same chaos which resulted in the pull out will happen at the other sites.

    Dominica those not need more people with PHDs but more people with common sense and those who will listen to others. What we need mos is WISDOM,KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING.

    REcommendati

  2. G.A.
    September 2, 2011

    Like Yout, I am confused.
    Is Mr. Douglas telling us that all the stay over tourists on the island need to know the cruise ship schedules to allow them to visit Trafalger ? How odd is this ?
    If the ones in the north decide to go there one day and spend almost two hours driving to find they are turned away there will be MANY upset and angry tourists. This does not make a lot of sense as it is the longer term tourists who bring in most of the money to the local establishments. Why alienate them ?

  3. yout
    September 2, 2011

    so if i have two french tourist on a day the ship in port …..WHAT HAPPENS?

    I WOULD RELLY LIKE ANSWERS

  4. Salsbury Empress
    September 2, 2011

    I am reaally puzzled here! I visited the Kalinago Barana Aute during the summer ( August) with my visiting friends from Trinidad and they described this visit as their best experience in DOminica.

    As part of the visit, they had a tour which is US$10 per person for non-nationals. During the tour, four young Kalinagos made a presentation of the song, music and dance of the KAlinago people for about ten munites.
    We also had an opportunity to see and taste the popular cassava bread!

    Along the way, we were very pleased to meet about twenty kalinago kids having real fun in a pool which was recently created. This was very exciting indeed. All in all, the visit was great!!!

    Question, isn’t the KBA under the Ministry of Tourism? If this is so, why isn’t the MOT and DDA playing a more active role in promoting the facility? I understood the young man managing the facility has to pay all monthly bills and wages as well as maintain the facility from the funds raised through ticket sales!

    I find it very strange that a facility which was built by government gets so little support from the DDA and MOT. The people at the DDA don’t even know what product the KBA offers. I wonder what will/would happen if the present manager had to quit the job tomorrow!!!

  5. Born Free
    September 1, 2011

    Whichever sites are designated as “premiere” for overseas visitors, please ensure that the term premiere includes good motorable roads to those sites. That is, no pot holes and no bush or trees overhanging the roads.

  6. Anonymous
    September 1, 2011

    what are the other conditions/characteristics which which differentiate a premiere site from others

  7. Tr Man
    September 1, 2011

    Not hearing from Tr people about this development. This a move in response to the pulling out of the cruise ship. They are using the labeling of the trafalgar falss as permier destination as a smoke screen. The problem as it is that the the cruiseship only make money from organized tours adn since many passengers go to trafalgar on none organized tours the cruise ship is not making money. However because the site is popular cruise ship passengers will visit organized or not. Hence by putting the destination as premier, then the cruise ship will make money. This is a plan to get the CARNIVAL CRUISE line back and nothing else. It is all about the cruise ship making more money from the Trafalgar site.

  8. Pedro
    September 1, 2011

    Yes it will take planning and funding but the best sites on the island are the sites hardest to reach. I am hearing no talk whatsoever involving plans to upgrade sites such as Middleham, boliv, sari sari, victoria falls, to world class level so they can be parking and easier, safe, convenient access, even whilst keeping the environment pristine. We need more imagination here. too much of the same old, same old. We are hell bent on exploring trafalgar falls and emerald pool. Come now mr minister, get more consultation if you have to, sorry, we need to think bigger than that.

    • Economist
      September 1, 2011

      Pedro – Your sentiments are felt, however this is a step in the right direction. A small step but a step nonetheless. Without being critical of any one; we need to see much more consultation and ideas brought forward by stakeholders. The minister may be the one to take ideas to cabinet for approval but we Dominicans need to be willing to suggest feasible and profitable ideas to government in a by bipartisan manner.
      And to take it a step further – if anyone is confident that those ideas are feasible and profitable but the authorities are ignoring it. Then for the good of the country why not prepare a business plan and rally the support of the masses. If it’s profitable more than likely support will be generated.

      • pedro
        September 2, 2011

        Economist, you have a good point as well. I am not saying that the government’s intent for Trafalgar falls is a bad idea; but there needs to be more forward thinking. Further, the government has not shown a great willingness to embrace ideas from public consultation, so this is not very encouraging.Whereas it takes time to develop ideas into business plans, the mere fact that you do not hear about the need for more direct investment in tourism is appalling. It really is not rocket science to realize that we must develop more sites with greater appeal, regardless of whether it is public or public/private partnership. We have been highlighting the same old sites for decades and it is high time that there is more of a strategic intent towards broadening experiences. We all know it will take resources and cannot happen overnight, but we can certainly outline a framework of strategic intents that we can work towards in a specific time.

    • Anthony P. Ismael
      September 2, 2011

      I think some of our tourism stakeholders have a very limited vision of what the traveling public desires when they’re on vaction. As a result, we lack new development initiatives that would evaluate what we have, make the necessary upgrades whle developming new sites for locals and visitors alike.
      Trees and flowers should be planted along the route to Trafalgar. The entire ride from the cruise ship berth to the actual site must be memorable always. If we take that approach, then you will see more forward thinking ideas being devised by both public and private partnerships alike.

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

:) :-D :wink: :( 8-O :lol: :-| :cry: 8) :-? :-P :-x :?: :oops: :twisted: :mrgreen: more »

 characters available