Tourism Minister Denise Charles stated that Dominica has witnessed significant growth in the cruise industry during the 2022-2023 season.
She made the announcement while speaking to state-owned Radio DBS.
“I am delighted to announce that Dominica witnessed significant growth in the cruise industry during the 2022-2023 season with a 32 percent increase in calls to 189 and a remarkable rise of 44,749 passengers compared to the Pre-Covid 2019-2020 season,” she said.
She continued, “As we look ahead the 2023-2024 season promises continued growth with an estimated 18.5 percent increase in cruise calls to 224 and a 15.3 percent increase in passengers to 270,000.”
Charles stated also that major cruise lines such as Princess, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Carnival, TUI Cruises, and Disney Cruises are expected to make more frequent visits to Dominica in the upcoming season.
Furthermore, she said to enhance guest experiences stakeholders including taxi operators, vendors, tour operators, government agencies, local businesses, and community leaders will participate in off-season meetings and training sessions.
Charles said the government of Dominica is committed to raising the island’s profile in the market and investing in cruise infrastructure improvements.
A press release published on Dominica News Online (DNO) on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, indicated that as of April 2023, Dominica received a total of 190 cruise calls and 236,288 passengers for the 2022-2023 cruise season, compared to 189,334 passengers and 143 calls for the 2019-2020 season. This clearly points to an increase of some twenty-five (25) percent over the 2019-2020 figures and signals a strong return to cruise business in Dominica.
Meanwhile, another press release published on DNO on Tuesday, April 3o, 2019, stated that as of January 18, 2019, the projected cruise calls for the upcoming 2019-2020 cruise season was 164 cruise calls. This translates to 286,470 cruise passengers. There was hope expressed that these figures would increase by the start of the 2019-2020 cruise season, in light of the preceding meetings held with the cruise lines.
Dominica will be closing the 2022-2023 cruise ship season with Disney Magic later this month.
Only because we are coming out of the COVID era. there is no real growth. we are doing worse than pre maria.
Examining some of the dilapidated sidewalks in Roseau, one would believe that we would have addressed this issue by now. The plans for the improvement of Roseau were beautiful. How about turning inputs into outputs? Independence Street is an eye sore. Time to back up the grand plans with actuality instead of talk and more talk.
In addition to the glowing statistics that Ms. Charles mentioned so eloquently, I have a few more questions for her. How has the increase in cruise passengers contributed to our GDP? How many more jobs were created as a result of these numbers? What is the difference in revenue to the island’s economy year-over-year? What plans are in place to sustain and increase these numbers?
I wonder what ‘significant growth’ means in her book? She has has been going to Skerrits school for quite a while and she learned well. Having said that, it’s actually nothing to be proud of. These people make me sick to the stomach with their cheap propaganda. They have absolutely nothing to show for being in government for 20 years. Nothing, nothing, nothing but abusing the English language on a daily basis.
I wonder if Mamselle can tell us what all these ‘superlatives’ mean to our economy and income of the tourism sector. Cruise ship passengers don’t give us much. Over night tourism is what counts. Guess what, we don’t hear anything about that…, silence just utter silence! That’s the trademark of this incompetent government.
@Roger T
She believes that all Dominicans are the DLP supporters, who clap at everything, even when they are insulted!!
“I am delighted to announce that Dominica witnessed significant growth in the cruise industry during the 2022-2023 season with a 32 percent increase in calls to 189 and a remarkable rise of 44,749 passengers compared to the Pre-Covid 2019-2020 season,” she said.”
I know I am not mathematically smart, but one thing I remember when I took a class ” Algebra for college students,” the professor warned students in his class to be guarded where it pertains to quoting percentage, because when one start talking percentage, it has to be based on some number, or figure.
Her claim is that: “season with a 32 percent increase in calls to 189 ” so, the question is how she arrived at her 32% more which brought 189 more cruise ships to the island!
Now, 44,749/189 =236.78 or 237 if I square it so that means each ship only brought 237 tourist to the island in an entire season!
That woman need to stop talking, and that picture with less than a dozen people on display we saw that years ago.
I probably would not have used such strong language towards the lady but you are absolutely right as it pertains to the product Dominica is selling when it comes to tourism. You are also correct as to what St. Kitts, Jamaica, Antigua, and Aruba have to offer. The frustrating and annoying thing about all of this is that Dominica has the potential to blow all these other countries out of the water. Today’s tourists are not looking primarily for white sand and blue sea. They are looking for exactly what Dominica has to offer. Hiking trails, waterfalls, pristine rainforests, indigenous communities and therapeutic hot springs. We got it all, we just have to clean up Roseau, and all of Dominica for that matter, befitting the designation as the “Nature Island of the Caribbean”
Good. Hopefully there were lessons learned from this season which would allow Dominica to exceed the number of visitors planned for the next season and more importantly, drive an increase stayover visitors.
The low figures the tourism minister have quoted alone, merits her RESIGNATION. Dominica has spawned so many bright minds, and Denise Charles in 2023 is insulting our intelligence, by saying that tourism is on the up and up in Dominica? What a vexing shame and insult to me!! My lady St Kitts hit one million cruise arrivals for TWO consecutive cruise seasons. Their $48 000 000.00 cruise pier at Port Zante is a beauty. Have you visited it? It can accommodate 3 mega Oasis class ships.
Go fix Roseau. Roseau is an eye saw. Roseau is smelliny pee pee. Roseau has no sidewalks. Roseau is unwelcoming, with lots of kar kar chien too. And please resign. You are stupid, shameless and incompetent! Stop insulting me with unadulterated puffery and hot geothermal air about Dominica’s cruise sector!!! It’s not doing well with you as tourism minister.
Stuppessssssssssssasss!!
I have been saying it on numerous occasions before, Dominica is a place of mediocrity and it will remain so as long as these clowns are in power. All they do is ‘plan’, feed the ‘plans’ to their dunce supporters and they scream ‘progress’. The problem none of these plans that they hatched in the last 20 years has come to fruition. Cruise village, new Roseau, modernisation of all the sites and so forth…
All they have done: squandered our CBI money, built cheap apartments and gifted them to their dunce supporters in exchange for votes and civil obedience.
Oops…….Roseau is an eye soar, not eye saw.
I got it wrong again. It’s eye sore