Cruise season opens in Dominica

The visitors were welcomed by students waving flags
The visitors were welcomed by students waving flags

Cruise visitors flooded the Dame Eugenia Charles Boulevard on Wednesday morning as Dominica welcomed its first cruise ship for the 2016 cruise season.

The visitors were treated to cultural activities and welcomed by students, while officials said measures have been taken to ensure that the season this year is a successful one.

Director of Tourism, Collin Piper, told Dominica News Online that the number of cruise calls from last year to this year is a slight improvement.

“The fourth quarter of last year was poor due to Tropical Storm Erika, we expect now that the fourth quarter of this year will be better because we are back,” he stated. “Certainly this weekend will have a major increase with the tourists due to the World Creole Music Festival.”

Piper went on to state that the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Public works have come together to prepare for the tourist season.

“The Ministry of Tourism have informed public works of when the season was to open, and as best as possible they have assisted us with patching the roads. One of the biggest issues for us was on the (Roseau) Valley and works have been ongoing particularly on the Wotten Waven road”, he stated.

President of the Combined Taxi Inc., Phillip Guiste, also spoke on the matter saying that in relation to Tropical Storm Erika, work is still ongoing in the Wotten Waven area, and he hopes that by next week the taxi drivers will be able to use that route instead of using the Wotten Waven road to enter the hot springs.

Chairman of the Discover Dominica Authority, Benoit Bardouille pointed out that the focus and attention are ensuring that the tourists really enjoy themselves in Dominica, and as such there were meetings during the off-season with stakeholders to improve the quality of service that they give.

He said meetings were held with the police, stakeholders, and private security to ensure that in known areas such as the Botanic Gardens, where there have been known issues in the past, are safe and securities and police officers are expected to patrol in and around those areas.

“Any incident with a tourist is too much, we want to ensure that we have a tourist season without any negatives which will force persons away,” Bardouille noted. “Dominicans are known to be friendly and we need to excel on that and make the tourists feel at home.”

He also said that every vehicle with more than four passengers must go out with a tour guide and this will not only increase work for the tour guides, but it will also increase the quality of the tours being given.

“We realize that when a tour goes out with a tour guide the quality of service given and the information provided is far better than when they go with a taxi driver,” Bardouille explained.

Meanwhile, Guiste said the opening of the season was long awaited and a great day for the taxi association.

Guiste said preparations have been done in the off-season as the association has upgraded their taxi drivers and acquired some new taxi drivers as well.

“We now have about 30 new taxi drivers and 54 trained tour guides,” he revealed. “With safety measures in place, the taxi drivers are expected to adhere to the road signs as well as the men at work on the roads and they are asked to drive with a moderate speed as to ensure the safety of the tourists.”

 

 

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2 Comments

  1. Gay is Good
    October 26, 2016

    I hope they get the buggery law repealed soon so that we can start advertising for gay cruiseships to visit our shores.

  2. Pres_Donald_Trump
    October 26, 2016

    Friendly, Bardouille was not friendly to port workers when he sent them for drug test.

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