Tourism Minister, Ian Douglas, has urged Dominicans to play their part along with the Discover Dominica Authority (DDA) and other such agencies in creating and protecting the nation’s tourism product.
Speaking at a press conference to launch the DDA’s newest campaign, ‘I Am Dominica’, the Minister said the $243-million that is generated by Dominica because of tourism trickles down through the system and does not only benefit those directly linked to the industry.
He said, “That money goes right through the system; the vendors have to clothe their children, sometimes made by seamstresses and so the tourism dollar makes its way into their pockets. That money filters into the agricultural industry, because there are number of farmers that sell to our restaurants, to our hotels. So when we speak of our product, all of Dominica should see it as their business.”
“We have to protect our investment,” he added.
Douglas also called for a concerted effort towards partnership with other ministries of government and all citizens since tourism is to this decade what the banana industry was to the 80’s.
“We must have a service-oriented mindset. We must understand that what agriculture did for Dominica in the 1980’s, it is tourism that is doing it now. And every single person must have that same kind of commitment to the maintenance of where we have gotten to and the commitment to grow the industry to become the best in the region and the world,” Douglas urged.
He stated that in order to make our product world-class we all need to protect what we have and be better stewards of what we can contribute to the tourism product.
I personally am glad to have Dominica as my country. Tourism right now is the thing that we must expand on right now to better the country. AFter its worked through and been stabilized then other aspects relating to development in DA wil be looked after and nutured to be successful sectors in the development plan. Everyone complains about Dominica…………Dominica is just the name of the island the, the ground upon with we live. When we say Dominica full nonsense, a set of stupidness that going on, it slow, and it lacking development, we dont even realize we talking bout our own self. Its funny how no matter what party it have in power the same thing does come out in people mouth bout ” IS D PM FAULT.”
Douglas is just doing his Job as Tourism minister, and we as Dominicans have a job also. That job is help build a prosperous and peaceful nation. Isn’t that what the pledge says. I wonder sometimes what we go school for, what we have a brain for, and what we have all that energy we using to badtalk people for, when we could use to better our lives with better plans.
Its a TRUE AND PROUD THING to be the nature isle. But just because neighbouring islands are sparkling with high raised buildings, popularity in magazines and among foriegners, and outstanding performances in their advertising of culture more than your own, dont be quick to throw away Your island Dominica cause of that.
Other island are there because they used what theyy have and created the revenue which helped make these things possible. Stop looking at how long the road is. You gotta get gas (people) to start the vehicle (Ideas). And then only then will we make it, with every one taking up their own, not waitin to be spoon fedd, but making their ownnnnnn. Stop discouraging children, tell them come back with what they learnt to make their country succeed among those in the World. Its a Great! feeling to hear your Country’s name out there, knowing that you helped it get there.
This country is dying. The brain drain is overwhelming. Dont make the hatians over populate Dominicans, Keep this COuntry a DOMINICAN country, the Nature isle of the caribbean.
By the time they done with Dominica, she flat on her back. She is being gang-raped!!!
Tourism should not be Dominica’s main industry.
We should be training young people to become world class environmental engineers, conservationists, geothermal engineers, renewable energy specialists, botanists, organic farmers, environmental consultants and researchers, horticulturalists, marine biologists, natural history photographers and film makers etc etc. We should be building state of the art training facilities for all of this right now instead of all the other nonsense we seem to be wasting money on.
The answer is right outside. Every time we open our doors, we see it. We should become the world’s leading authorities on everything natural – in every branch of natural science imaginable. I dream of a day when it is Dominican consultants who go to the US and Europe, earning big money and telling them how to do things.
Tourism is important, but it should be a peripheral sector, not the main one. The rest of the world wants to be green. We already are. And we should be planning on becoming the world’s experts at it.
You need to sate publicy that the only way we can maximise our true potential in the tourism industry is by building an international airport. the rest will follow. Every recent article i have read by mr.douglas says the same thing . we get your point that thge people have to play their part. now tell us how you plann to transform the industry to increase it competitiveness and market share. Please IAN, we are friends but i will tell you frankly , do not comeback on DNO without some positive news or policy geared towards the improvement of the industry . And more so you need to sate publicly and in paliament that the people of portsmouth is demanding that the government seriously consider the building of an international airport. At least let be on record that you have sen the light.
Pawol en Bouche say pas met. Ian Douglas himself admits that some of the money from tourism trickles down through the system where different people of all walks of life tend to benefit. Let us examine how wicked those guys are. Imagine putting that $27,000,000.00 borrowed from China into productive sectors e.g. Agriculture, tourism, Manufacturing, micro agro-processing plants. Wouldn’t that plan benefit the whole of Dominica much more?
Instead Skerritt, Ian Douglas and the other DLP Govt. Ministers as well as supporters stubbornly refuse to listen to the majority of Dominicans who are pleading to Govt. to rethink using that huge sum of money for building a State Palace for the President. How much are Dominicans going to benefit? How much money would trickle down to the seamstress, the farmer, the vendor, the fisher folks, the ordinary men and women? To add insult to injury, Skerritt and the DLP Govt. refused to open that project for OPEN TENDER. No local construction Co. could send any proposal to get the slimmest of chance to build that Palace. Dominicans should ask Ian Douglas whether many Dominicans would tend to benefit or not when most of the money would be repatriated to China. From such a large project, how much will VAT, Social Security, Business places, local construction workers, vendors and so get? Ask Ian who makes the money from tourism? How many buses have the bus and car dealers sold? That is where the real huge sums of money are made. At the end of the day, even though there are inefficiencies and poor planning by the Minister, even though revenue from tourism decrease, The Minister of Tourism and his ilk will continue receiving his FAT SALARY from the Taxpayers. How much will TRICKLE DOWN to the people? Crumbs, my people, crumbs.
“tourism is to this decade what the banana industry was to the 80’s”.
You can see this is the case but yet still more money is not being spent on Tourism.
Ok, there is not much money but at least you should focus the spending of the little resouces that we have. Go for the more profitable markets and push the marketing there.
Mainland Europe is where we should be marketing in order to get the big spending eco tourist.
There is an article about by Sir Ronald Sanders read it. This should give you a direction of where we can and should be going.
Thanks to who every posted the article about.
can you back up your statement with some stats minister i like to know over what period how do arrive at that figure when hoteliers are reluctant to give u occupancy and revenue information on i need you to apportioned these figure what % of revenue did tours and site seeing generate what percentage is hotel occupancy tax generate hello i mean Hotel occupancy tax do not include vat these will be misleading common piper i know u are better that we need breakdown of these figure
If the bus is fine and ready to go it’s just the driver that need to be booted of the bus. the bottom line is a government focused on the enrichment of government ministers is a failed government. Maybe we need to do like the Haitians and take to the streets.
brilliant article Sir Ronald Sanders. Its much more informative that what the minister has said in his entire term in office. We need people like you to advise and educate the government.
By Sir Ronald Sanders
Of the 249 places in the world in which human beings live and work, the small Caribbean island of Dominica (751 sq km) ranks at 187 in size.
Even so, it is bigger than well-known Caribbean tourism destinations such as St Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Cayman Islands, St Kitts-Nevis, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, and St Marten.
Two reasons account for Dominica being left behind by neighbouring Caribbean islands in the development of tourism. The first is that it has no white, sandy beaches – the iconic symbol of “Caribbean tourism”; and, second, it doesn’t have an international airport. It is served by small aircraft operated by American Eagle from Puerto Rico, and LIAT for inter-island transportation.
Nonetheless, the island is a veritable garden of trees, plants, and colourful flowers. Much of it is luxuriant rain forest, majestic in its spread over mountain ranges and into lush valleys. The entire terrain is adorned by gushing waterfalls; narrow, flowing rivers and hot sulphur springs. Not surprisingly, it is home to hundreds of species of birds. Private operators in Dominica have also developed a vibrant whale-watching industry, taking advantage of the country’s marine life, and providing an added attraction for its visitors. The island, therefore, is as an eco-tourism paradise.
In an effort to expand the tourism plant on the island, the government has considered borrowing US$60 million from the Export-Import Bank of China. The loan would amount to 16 per cent of GDP and, if it is consummated, Dominica would not achieve the debt to GDP ratio of 60 per cent which the IMF considers desirable. For the time being, this potential borrowing from China is on hold unless a private sector partner can be identified.
But, millions of dollars have already been ploughed into spectacularly natural eco-tourism resorts in Dominica by dedicated private investors, and there could be even more financiers if the country’s future as a desirable eco-tourism destination had a greater level of confidence than now exists.
Dominica is agriculturally well-endowed. But that endowment is in the ground and doesn’t translate itself into income and employment. The island’s last viable agricultural product, bananas, was dealt a mortal blow by a combined US-Latin America challenge at the World Trade Organisation to its traditional preferential market in the European Union. A once vibrant small farmer community of some 9,000 persons has been reduced to about 500.
Still, Dominica has the capacity to supply neighbouring Caribbean islands with fresh fruit and vegetables in abundance if it can overcome two constraints: no regular and scheduled refrigerated-transportation; and high quality packaging that satisfies the requirements of the tourist markets in these islands. Both are a tall order, and beyond the resources of the Dominica government alone.
Therefore, eco-tourism is the star that shines brightly in Dominica’s economic sky. It could guide the country to a prosperous future, but this will depend substantially on the ecological policies that any government of the country pursues.
Among those policies should be a serious and unshakeable commitment to maintaining Dominica as an environmentally friendly island. This means any government there will have to adopt and maintain international best practices with regard to the island’s maritime and land resources, creating both as sanctuaries.
It will also have to instill in its young people, from kindergarten to tertiary education, that a foremost value of Dominican society and culture must be the protection and preservation of the environment.
Already the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) – an influential conservation organisation with a global outreach – is working with the Ministry of Education in a very popular “Floating Classroom” project in which fifth graders study the ocean as an integrated part of their school curriculum. The project combines cross disciplinary classroom study, hands-on learning during an ocean excursion, and a student-led conservation initiative. Children who undertake the programme have become the custodians of their heritage in the sea, and are strong advocates of conservation, showing their elders the benefits of protecting and preserving their natural environment.
It is also in Dominica’s national interest for the government to assert itself as a Champion of the environment in the international community. In return, Dominica would earn the respect of the world’s environmental and conservation organisations, and the support of their millions of members worldwide.
As an example, after the Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, moved his government away from supporting Japan’s continuing determination to overturn rules at the International Whaling Commission so as to legitimize killing of hundreds of whales, including endangered species, Greenpeace – another major international conservation organisation with regional offices in 48 countries – told its millions of supporters: “If you are going to spend your hard-earned cash on a vacation to a Caribbean island, why not make it to one that has made the commitment to ending whaling.”
That is a mighty message, one that has already brought many new Eco-tourists to Dominica and could bring thousands more every year, particularly if the call is repeated by every major conservation organisation in the world. Such support is possible if Dominica demonstrates that in all aspects of conservation it will be amongst the first countries to stand-up. Undoubtedly there would be a coalition of international groups ready to reward the Dominican people by putting their millions of members behind them.
If only a small percentage of the worldwide supporters of conservation and environmental groups said ‘Yes to Dominica” for their vacations, its tourism would boom and contribute substantially to the country’s GDP and to employment and foreign exchange earnings.
The demand for seats into Dominica would encourage large airlines to allocate much more space to the island on their flights into Caribbean hubs such as Antigua, Barbados, Guadeloupe and Martinique. In light of the money that could be made, feeder carriers, such as LIAT, might then be ready to schedule pick-up fights from the hubs into Dominica.
The potential for sustainable economic growth, led by eco-tourism, is great. Dominica could become the world’s leading eco-tourism destination. Sustainable environmental policies by its government and strategic alliances with global environmental bodies could take it there.
(The writer is a Consultant and former Caribbean diplomat)
Thanks for the comment, and the reminder, but this article was Posted on DNO sometime ago.
lol
Sing that song morning, noon, and night, Mr.Minister….and doh go off key.!!…U hear i warning U!! Already I hear u cannot sing…….lol