A new survey has found out that based on lodging costs, Dominica ranked 13 among 20 of the most expensive Caribbean destinations.
CheapHotels.org said they compared the various Caribbean destinations for the period spanning January to April 2013, which represents the high season for travel to the Caribbean.
Only resorts and hotels with a minimum of a 3-star rating were considered.
Based on the results, Dominica, where travelers had to spend US$165 per night for the most affordable room, ranked at 13.
In comparison, travelers to Virgin Gorda had to spend a whopping US$321 per night, making it the most expensive destination in the Caribbean.
Coming in second and third most expensive were Anguilla and St. Barts, which averaged US$315 and US$295 respectively.
French neighbour to the south, Martinique, was ranked the least expensive destination in the survey with rooms as low as US$144 per night.
The release of the survey comes at a time when tourism officials say Dominica must increase its stay over visitors to 90,000 by 2015 if it is to remain sustainable in the tourism industry.
“Collectively, destination Dominica needs to be moving in one direction and that direction is for 90,000 stay over visitors by 2015. That requires us to grow by 7 percent per year, which is a tough target…” Director of Tourism, Colin Piper, said at a recently held tourism conference.
Below is the list of The Caribbean’s Most Expensive Destinations
1. Virgin Gorda (British Virgin Islands) US$321
2. Anguilla US$315
3. St. Barts US$295
4. Nevis (Saint Kitts and Nevis) US$254
5. St. John (U.S. Virgin Islands) US$224
6. Tortola (British Virgin Islands) US$217
7. Eleuthera (Bahamas) US$214
8. Grand Cayman (Cayman Islands) US$197
9. Paradise Island (Bahamas) US$195
10. Runaway Bay (Jamaica) US$187
11. Exuma Islands $180
12. Sint Marteen $174
13. Dominica $165
14. St. Martin $164
15. St. Thomas $159
16. San Juan $157
17. Palm Beach (Aruba) $154
18. Guadeloupe $149
19. Trinidad $146
20. Martinique $144
It would have been better if we ranks low most expensive in goods we are feeling the pain buying goods in Dominica something need to be done,so am not that excited towards ranks most low expensive desination.
Dominica need of a 5 star hotel!!!! Real bad I can’t even say to a guest where I’m working somewhere to stay dominica because they do VIP it sucks!!! Because dominica so beautiful it’s a shame we don’t have one!!!
Without DNO siting the source of the survey, this whole thing is useless. DNO, why are you so particular about protecting your copywrite for the story, yet fail to site your source of information or even the survey?
Tourism is NOT the answer for Dominica!! There is not ONE Caribbean country where the people have benefitted from high tourism. Tourism is bad for the ecology and security of small nations such as this. Having a niche market in eco-tourism with AFFORDABLE accomodations especially considering how difficult and expensive it is to get there, is more realistic and responsible for Dominican tourism in my opinion.
I question where they got those figures.
Anguilla on a whole is too expensive.they do have some lovely mostly 5 star hotels ,but it is still a very expensive little island,totally dependent on tourism.
Looking at the big shot countries that are higher and lower than Dominica i don’t know if that ranking is a bad or good thing for Dominica
As a matter of interest, which are the three-star & above rated hotels/resorts in Dominica? Call me ignorant but I have never seen such a rating in our country. And who’s rating system is used? Is it a local one? A recognised international one? Are we comparing apples with oranges?
two things jumped out at me in the article (1) no mention of Barbados, Antigua or St. Lucia which is very odd and laughable in terms of research. (2) Being in the hospitality industry for a few years, cheap rates are hardly a good sign to many high end tourists. These tourists start to ask “what’s wrong?” if the price is too cheap and assume either rightly or wrongly, that an expensive price means top quality. so we in DA have to be careful when pricing our lodgings so as not to give the tourists the impression that we are a cheap just come.
Sometimes, we should remain silent so people will just wonder if we had nothing brilliant to say, instead of voicing something and removing all doubt.
The survey was a list of the 20 most expensive. Antigua and st. lucia and Barbados are not on the list since they are not one of the top 20 most expensive.
Those 3 islands offer a wider range of hotel prices. from very expensive to extremely economical. So when an average is computed, they escape the top 20 most expensive spots overall.
This does not mean all the hotels are cheap on those islands. Familiarize yourself with the definition of AVERAGES .
For example, given the set {3, 6, 6, 10, 9, 9,12, 17} the average =9
given the set {4, 9,8, 10, 11, 12, 12, 12} the average =10
Notice that the set with the higher number still has the lower average.
conceited ENSTEIN
Dominica should at least work harder, because i no that my country can make it to the top by 2015. once we have our head of government on
The article should state ” most expensive low star Caribbean destinations”.
can get a 3 star hotel in Barbados or Antigua for about a $100 or less where as in Dominica we only have 2 3 stars hotel and nothing above that and they cost about $200 AND DO U THINK Somebody who is rich come to a 3 star hotel to spend their vacation they rich people who come to Dominica have no choice they usually come on business there fore the government has a lot to do we need international air access and some 5 star hotels that’s what the other islands have and we do not
Amen!
the hotel cost is only a part there are several other aspects the survey is not only about hotel but a complete destination package.for example i can spend a week in Barbados,st Thomas ,st martin,Jamaica,st Lucia flying from Atlanta for less than a $1000.the airfare from Atlanta to Dominica is about a $1000 or more
It’s said only resorts and hotels with a minimum of a 3-star rating were considered. Saint Vincent didn’t mention? When you travel to SVG Resorts, like PSV Resort Palm Island, Carenage bay, Tamarind resort, Buccament resort and Young Island. If you don’t have US$1500, 3000, 6000 TO stay for one night, just ask for a tour guide, someone who will show you around, I didn’t mention Mustique because if only the rich and famous can spent US$20.000 thousand per night
First of all, the list is incomplete and very confusing and can not be considered a valid base for comparison purposes. It compares individul resorts with countries . One example is Runaway Bay in Jamaica. Does this represent all of Jamaica? And where are Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, the most populous islands in our region?
Secondly, I hope that in this survey Dominica is not, once again confused with the Dominican Republic (for which there is no seperate listing).
Last but not least, cheaper is not necessarily better and price is not the same as cost. Hope they can come with reaearch that is properly balanced.
I personally think that $165 is bad for tourism,i know hotels in the us that charge 200 plus a night
I am confused at your statement. What do you mean? Bad because it’s too cheap? Or bad because it’s too expensive? By stating that there are more expensive hotels in the US, it seems like you are saying Dominica is too cheap. Anyway, over $200 per night hotel in the US is a joke. There are hotels in the US that goes for over $1000 per night! But those rates vary widely. For example, there are some hotels in Atlantic City that goes for over $400 a night on Fridays and Saturday, and during the week, including Sunday night, some of them go for less than $100 per night. It’s all a supply-demand thing. It there is a big show in the area – price go up. So when Dominica can attract the visitors that rooms are running out, price can increase. I stayed over in San Juan, in what one of the locals calls a nice hotel, and I was shocked at how crappy the place was. What I paid for that hotel, I could have gotten a real nice room here in the US. So these things are all relative.
Very True.
I spent a few nights at the Hilton Parsippany Hotel at less than $100 per night.
It’s all relative…
Ahh that’s so nice to see the lovely Garraway hotel, it really makes me miss Dominica and all my old friends and clients. xoxo
I stayed at garraway US$100 per night deal. The beds were very uncomfortable, but the staff were awesome!
ahhh papa met the staff are fab every where you go in Dominica, but Garraway is my fav xxx
miss diva we miss you to,when you coming back man???????????????????????????????????????????
ahhh sweetness who ever you are thats lovely, i will be back before ya know it xxxx
thats a bit weird the biggest place for visitors which is antigua barbados and st lucia are not on the list, dont really take any notice of that list then…..
The glaring omission of these two top tourist destinations does not lend much credibility to this report.
No baby , they are not in the same league.
“Dominica ranks low among most expensive Caribbean destinations…” suggests that the island has cheaper rates among all the destinations. Leaving out the word “low” would have been a more accurate headline to and summary of the article.
I agree with “Lilly” that the survey was badly conducted. The results of this should be examined critically.
For Dominica, any ranking is another avenue to get our name out there. What matters is how we manage our response to rankings like this in order to make it work to our advantage.
Im suprised Barbados is not on the list, rooms at the Sandy Lane hotel average around $1000 US a night?
Your fool…it says least expensive and not most expensive.
It seems DNO have to send a lot of you people back to primary school again geeeeeeeeeeeeeze.
why would you call someone a fool, when you cant even pronounce? its you are a fool not your fool now who is the fool
I think your the one that needs to go back to school. The article clearly states “Below is the list of The Caribbean’s Most Expensive Destinations” Which means the most expensive are at the top of the list, and the least expensive are at the bottom of the list.
Why are you so quick to call people fool? “Dominica ranks low among most expensive Caribbean destinations – survey”. “In comparison, travelers to Virgin Gorda had to spend a whopping US$321 per night, making it the most expensive destination in the Caribbean”. Those statements were taken directly from the report. Did we read the same document? Where did it say the least expensive? It said T&T is lowest ‘among the most expensive’, and Virgin Gorda Most expensive Caribbean destination. In other words D/ca is the 13th most expensive destination. No where it said where was the overall cheapest. And you got thumbs up? wow! It is really strange Barbados did not make the list.
You are right.Barbados should have been on the list because the title states Dominica ranks low among Caribbean most expensive destinations. The article is misleading and Dominica is one of the least expensive destination. so The article does not do what it sets out to do. We are either talking most expensive Caribbean destinations or least expensive destinations. What are really discussing. This discussion is reflective of us as a people. Quick to judge, quick to misunderstand and defend positions regardless.
TOMA and PL. it seems that you all are the major share holders in DNO and Donald Trump is your daddy. It seems that the English language is your 100th language and you all just pasa understand. KUNU-MUNU !abcdefghijklmnopqrst was right but due to your stupidy and ass thinking you were not able to see where she was coming from. Oh boy DNO..gopwell does do things we boy! The lowest of the most expensive doesn’t make it most expensive…simple logic! As abcdefghijklmnopqrs says geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze promounce it DOUCE-KIAT!
Well back to school for me. I am sure that the headline says “Dominica ranks low among the most expensive Caribbean destinations”
The survey was done on 3 star rated hotels. Sandy Lane is a 5 star hotel. Pay attention to what you are reading. There is a big difference between 3 star and 5 star.
“Only resorts and hotels with a minimum of a 3-star rating were considered”.
This was just copied from the report. I was not the brightest English student, but damn! “with a minimum of 3-star” means that 5-star is also included!
Different league!
HUH I looking at that for the HONEYMOOOOON.
DNO which place is best? I know all of you news people al you always travelling. DNO ADMINISTRATOR can you help me out in this? The time is coming soon for me to decide the date for that big day. If you help me out with that maybe the whole DNO Staff might get a VIP Special invite to the wedding.
I am commenting here because the website where this article came from doesn’t allow me the opportunity to do so. The method used in this survey is very problematic and a poor example of how research should be done. Whoever did this survey should know better and do a better job to inform readers.
I don’t even know where to begin but for starters, the survey doesn’t control for anything. In other words, it doesn’t take into consideration the factors affecting travel to these areas that would influence the cost of hotel rooms-carnival, competition, etc. And really, the subjective 3-star rating is the best method of sample selection that could be used?
This survey is simply to advance the website’s agenda and I am quite annoyed. I dislike misleading and badly done research and this is one very good example!
So what exactly does this mean? How does that help anyone?
it seems to me this is not as negetive as the headline suggests,DA seems in line, price wise, with the rest of the caribbean
Sint Marteen and St Martin – is there a difference. Please educate me if there is.
Sint Marten – Dutch side of the island, St Martin – French side.
Sint Marteen is Dutch and St. Martin is French
Saint Maarten is the Dutch side, St. Martin is the French side.
One is Dutch the other is French.
One half the of island is Dutch and the other half is French.
Very confusing I admit but there is even a third version “St. Maarten” . The latter is the Dutch version, St. martin the French spelling of the same name and where St. Marteen came from I don’t know, except perhaps from illiterrate Americans, who are oblivious of history and reduce everything to thelowest common denominator. Whatever you call it, be sure the islanders are happy to take your $$$.
Saint Marteen = Dutch
St Martin = French
St. Marteen is definitely not Dutch. In Holland that saint is known as St. Maarten (or by his Latin name St. Martinus).
Thanks . You live and learn
Sint Maarten is referred to as the Dutch side of the island(south).
St Martin is referred to as the French side(north of the island)
When referred to the entire island it is written: SAINT MARTIN.
And if you think that is confusing. We have the West Indies/ Caribbean/ Lesser Antilles/Greater Antilles/Leeward Islands/Windward Islands/Caricom/ Eastern Caribbean States/
Can Dominica get anything international right under this current Labor administration.