Over 2000 employees have been released from the tourism sector in Dominica.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit made that statement in his address to the nation on Sunday night.
He said the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been felt by all, but a greater blow has been felt by the tourism sector.
“We have been advised by the Dominica Hotel and Tourism Association [DHTA] that 2,082 employees have been released from the tourism sector,” he said. “That figure does not include persons engaged with travel agents and rental companies and some of the other tourism ancillary services.”
The prime minister said elsewhere in the less formal private sector a number of persons are currently no longer engaged including domestic workers, persons employed at bars, barbershops, daycare centres, and salons.
“Although some of their employers may not have been affected or have resumed operation, the future uncertainties and the need for social distancing have resulted in many remaining unemployed or underemployed,” he stated.
Skerrit said several measures have been put in place in order to benefit people in that sector, including the special facility loans at the AID Bank, the moratorium on loan repayments, the grants to persons in the sector who are no longer employed and the self- employed whose businesses have been closed. He said access has also been provided to the agricultural programme.
The hotels will be allowed to import several items on special concessions for six months starting June 1, according to the prime minister.
I have often heard it said, do not put all your eggs in one basket. It is not only Dominica that has made Tourism it’s only “basket”, it is the whole region. Let us take some of that money we have been pouring into the tourism basket, which by now has obviously developed an ever widening and deepening hole, and place it elsewhere. Did someone say “Agriculture, Infrastructure, Education, Healthcare”
Yes we all cry out for improvements and investments in these areas, but alas, it does not promise monetary benefits for the leaders, their families and associates. These things would result in benefiting the general public, the communities, you and I, and our children. But the self centered and selfish leaders of the region are not interested in this kind of development.
When you sent Ross University to Barbados our tourism sector lost almost 1300 stay over tourist. Skerrit you worst than Covid 19.
But Skerrit what about the employees of Kempinski money hiding? Are they temporarily released due to Covid-19 or are released indefinitely? Also, what is the status of the kempinski Mony hiding? I am hearing it’s closed until August 2021, is that true?
Let us be brutally honest. Unemployment and underemployment was at an all time high in Dominica prior to Covid-19. The Dominican economy was in a perpetual comatose state before the onset of this deadly pathogen. The Coronavirus has driven the final nail to seal the coffin. The euphoria by the those who consumed the Red Kool-Aid, before, during and just after the election results, has now turned to sorrow; anguish; pain ad suffering. This severely corrupt, clueless, callous, cartoonish, caustic, cancerous, contaminated, corrosive, crappy, crooked, cruel regime has made Dominica the laughing stock of the universe. Dominica is not a real, independent country, it is more a Chinese satellite State.