Members of the Organization of the Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) have been challenged to honor their commitments and dialogue in earnest on certain barriers that are proving to be the Achilles heel in regional travel and the tourism sector.
Dominica’s tourism minister, Ian Douglas made the call at the 12th meeting of OECS Council of Ministers of Tourism, which took place on Thursday at the Atlantique View Resort and Spa in Anse de Mai.
Douglas said millions are being spent yearly on marketing the region but visitors are being treated as if they are not welcomed.
“As we gather here in solidarity, as one voice, from independent states, as a union, to dialogue about building bridges for the betterment of our people especially in tourism, it pains me to say that breaking down some of the walls may in fact be the answer in that regard,” Douglas said.
The tourism minster pointed out that the OECS speaks of the ease of travel but it is a sad realization “that the many walls in the form of immigration procedures in the name of national security that we have put up are in fact barriers to entry and free movement within the sub-region.”
He questioned why the regions goes through great pains and expense to invite visitors “only to treat them at our borders like we didn’t mean to extend an invitation to them in the first place.”
“Today my fellow ministers, we must dialogue in earnest about developing and implementing and probably eradicating border controls that impact our yachties and those on our ferries and those coming by air,” Douglas stated.
Douglas noted further that it is also important to interlock the agricultural and tourism sectors and pointed out that the Chikungunya virus, which is currently plaguing many Caribbean island, is having a negative impact on the sector.
“The Chikungunya virus spread by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito today is a very real and negative impact that could have on our tourism in the region,” he noted. “Therefore we must be vigilant in the measures we take to curtail and eradicate this and to give the visitor every confidence that we are open and ready for their business.”
Meantime, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism Stephenson Hyacinth urged the ministers to unite for greater benefits of all parties.
“Each country represented here has its own uniqueness,” he said. “And I believe that if we as an OECS entity can meet and discuss the issues that affect us as a people and more so the tourism industry and work with each other, and not against each other, we can reap great benefits. I am a firm believer that tourism, if adequately addressed and supported, can really make a significant contribution to our region. But we must strengthen our bond of unity and sing from one hymn book.”
topic with tourism actually is much easier than it seems:
– liberalIze your market to allow international hotel chain to come: they will market Dominica as travel destination. Problem is that your government is not allowing any normal chain to come….why? because 90% of your economy is a business venture of 2-3family and it will be against their business interests
– make for foreign investors tax free environmnet
– reduce red tape: at least make for foreignersseparate procedures to avoid all bs which you call administrative procedures….
simple as that
Great points.
Incorrect statement :
– international hotel chains are welcome and would contribute tonthe economy,
– Incentives are in place for investors and include tax free
– thanks to Invest Dominica the red tape is simplified and an easy process.
I personally love Dominica! I am from St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and have been to Dominica many times for travel and even celebrated my wedding & honeymoon there last year. We stayed in Trafalgar village and it was wonderful. The people are almost always friendly, but of course, some are not. Which is the way of the world these days. In St. Thomas, we locals are much more rude to the visitors than in Dominica by comparison and we still have tons of tourism. Dominica’s tourism needs an international airport badly, LIAT is a horrible airline and provides a terrible service. Last time we flew down we took Seaborne Airlines to stop using Liat, even though it cost us about a $100 more for the tickets. Sadly, its a double edge sword: once the international airport is built the major corporations will come and want to develop Dominica’s natural beauty. From my experience in the Caribbean tourism trade, the cruise ship industry benefits only corrupt Gov’ts & their associated businesses. The cruise passengers are the cheapest type of tourism having already paid for an all inclusive buffet of food & activities on the cruise ship already. They spend as little money as possible at their destination’s activities, which typically the Cruise line gets a large cut from the local tour operators anyways. The real tourism is the tourists who fly in and stay on Dominica. They support local businesses, both big and small, through accommodations,transportation, dining, shopping, & activities. Just look at what the cruise ship industry has done to St. Thomas. Our island’s economy is now completely dependent upon the corporations that own these cruise ships and they know it. Our V.I. government bends to their every will for just about everything: road construction, transportation, beach development, and the list goes on. Dominica is a very unique island which offers many things that most other Caribbean islands can’t. All it would take is more direct flights to your beautiful island, Eco tourism is huge worldwide and it doesn’t get much better quality wise or cost wise than in Dominica. Dominica will never be St. Maarten or Antigua: nor should it be. Its not about fancy casinos, resorts, night clubs – its about the island’s natural beauty and uniqueness that makes Dominica stand apart. Embrace this uniqueness, don’t try to imitate other islands, Dominica is a magical island with so many natural gifts bestowed upon her. The rest of the Caribbean wishes that they had just a small fraction of the natural wonders that are everywhere to be found in Dominica. All it would take is an easier way to get the people of the world to Dominica and tourism would take off.
Yes this is true.
But it is always the outsiders who recognize this first.
“Millions are spent yearly to market the Region”
Is Dominica included in that statement?
If so, exactly which part of the world is Dominica marketed? Europe, Asia, Africa, America, the Region? Where?
I leave in Trinidad and I see ads about Grenada, St. Lucia, Barbados, Jamaica, etc. Never Dominica except when the festival is approaching you may see something which focuses only on the festival.
You are perfectly right M. Douglas.
It reminds me of a comment from Hon PM Gonsalves on the same topic where he was explaining how he had to fight internally to change the customs and Immigration officer’s attitude when welcoming visitors at the border.
He further explained that St Vincent’s immigration department official name at that time was still “prevention of immigration” !!
Would you imagine a shop with security guards in front treating the customer the way our border officers treat our visitors ?
Thanks for your efforts.
Mr Minister you seem to be taking a local/national/Dominican problem and trying to make it a regional problem. Most Caribbean islands such as Barbados, Antigua, T&T, Caymans, Bahamas, Jamaica, St Kitts, (you get the idea), most Caribbean islands are aware of the value of the tourist to their tourism industry and therefore treat the visitors very well. Just ask the Caribbean Tourism Association and they will give you the statistics on customer satisfaction! So what are you talking about? I suspect you are talking about Dominica.
The government should also not forget our French nationals who are just next door and who has been so willingly supportive to us every time we call on them. Government must initiate an invitational welcome to our dear French neighbors and encourage them to come visit Dominica. Please allow me to say that we are all so focused on the US dollar and we forgot the EURO. We need to establish a fundamentally strong and transparent relationship with our long time friends. Please be mindful that when I say French I mean France Martinique Guadeloupe all the Ailes of the Saints and other pockets of French nationals. I have seen the exchange of movements between Dominican and French nationals in little Anse De Mai in the past. I do also remember when the customs division wsed to collect up to $30.000 in revenue per month. What is so wrong with that. Why the hell is it that Dominica cannot use what we have to get what we want? What is so difficult about that? We are so fortunate to have Dominica. Its time to give ourselves a shut on the rear and get out of the luxury office chairs into the communities and work for our money. Where the heck is Rosie Douglas?
Frncisco your point is good fair and balanced I am asking for a 8000 ft runway and not use international. by the way let s not refer to Gayana as an island for geographic reasons.
” by the way let s not refer to Gayana as an island for geographic reasons.”(TJ).
TJ, I am not considering Guyana as an island, I know it is on the on that vast land geographically know as South America, as a matter of fact it is hope that the Pan-American Highway will sooner or later go all the way from the United States in North America to Guyana.
The only reason I mentioned Guyana, is because of the close relationship with the rest of the Caribbean, remember Guyana was a also ac colony of Britain known as British Guiana; after they attained their independence they changed their name for British Guiana to “Guyana”.
If you are a cricket fan you may remember Guyana produced some of the best cricketers the West Indies has ever produced, at one time there were six or seven Guanines on the team, including the evergreen Lance Gibbs!
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
Anthony Ismael have a point to poonder
Anthony Ismael point should be pondered.
What is wrong with this island is the people. How can you expect to get a decent tourist trade going? When the thieving, lying, and lack of cooperation stops, then you may have a chance.
Ian just tell the world that we have no idea of what is courtesy and etiquette is and I will agree to be ashamed of us!. We donot know how to treat each other jije vweh etwajeh. Stop beat around the bush. Tell the customs officers and the others who we meet at the port of entry to wake up and come better than that.
If those at the helm cannot or refuse to deliver quality customer service, do we expect the rest of the country to deliver? We all have a responsibility to ensure that the level and quality of service delivered to our guests exceeds their expectations and makes us stand out not only as the island with the best tourism product but the best packaged and the best delivered… but to do this our attitudes to our country men must improve and only then we can expect to experience improved attitudes towards foreigners and start reaping the benefits of increased visitor expenditures, repeat business and referrals… in case we do not know, visitors have many other holiday destination options to choose from when deciding on a vacation experience… They do not have to come to Dominica. We need them more than they need us. An undeveloped and unattended tourism product combined with poor service delivery and an indifferent attitude towards our guests is the formula for a failed tourism destination… Government and the private sector needs to therefore recognize the need for training and retraining, tooling and retooling all stakeholders if we want to remain competitive and relevant in the fastest growing sector in the world…
So now its the fault if the mosquito ,
hundreds and thousands if people fly to areas affected by Malaria annually . That is not the reason , its just too expensive , customer service is not up to par and your nightlife is non existant and to top it all Roseau is dirty . That is what you should be spending money on improving services not flying around attending one conference after another.
I’m not sure why there’s such a vast difference between Ian’s speech on day one and day two of the conference. I can only attribute this to, well at this point who knows?
The bottom line is this: We are late in the outright regional tourism game. Our regional competitors are ahead of us because they’ve been involved in the industry for a much longer period.
Furthermore, the issue of air access and affordable accommodation in Dominica is a 5000 pound “Gorilla” on the entire island.
Dominica has to position itself as a cost effective vacation destination in this unstable and sometimes unpredictable global economic environment.
We will never be competitive without proper air access and more hotel rooms on the island. Budget conscious travelers will not chose Dominica as a stay-over destination with the daily fiasco that is Leave Island Any Time Airline coupled with same-day connection issues. Ian of all people should be aware of that.
The extremist environmentalist in Dominica created “Niche Market Tourism/Eco Tourism” as our bread and butter. This is a very small group of tourist. What happens to the average Joe who desires to visit somewhere different with all the amenities, including a vibrant night life that they’re accustomed to?
The answer is: Absolutely nothing is done to entice them to visit Dominica. Our current blueprint is nothing more than abject failure. Just examine the total number of stay-over-visitors year-to-year for the last five years and the story will be told loud and clear.
Well said…
Well said!
And you guys just humiliated tommy lee sparta. Even if i do not agree with his music an his views. Is that not what you are preaching against Mr Ian. SMFH… you had a chance to demonstrate impartiality. This is amazing…
yes douglas . so true. i know of people who come to dominica and dominicans treat them like trash. dominicans treat them like they are just a bunch of white clowns coming to dominica for nothing. they blue vex when the tourist are looking around like they must buy their products. i know one man who charge a young tourist 100 us dollars just to take him to the trafalgar falls. this is ridiculous. and yet a friend of mine from hawaii who spend one night in towm the owner charge hin 150 us dollars . just to sleep on an old rickitee bed with no television –no nothing just an old bed and old matress
Yes its appalling and no one does anything about it , they give Dominica a bad name .
The worst offenders treating people badly sit in the department of labour-Immegration. Unless your are Chinese these women treat you with utter contempt. Douglas, tell them to go and look for another job. They are not fit to deal with the people that want to settle on the island. After all we bring a lot of money to Dominica and the government receives a fair amount of taxes from us. Get rid of these unsavoury women in that department. All they are interested in is collecting their pay cheque every month with the least possible effort to work. We do not have to put up with these rude individuals!
“Douglas said millions are being spent yearly on marketing the region but visitors are being treated as if they are not welcomed.”
Ian, all of your comments hear once again are nothing more than a pile of rotten, stinking, baloney riddled with deceptions and lies! You are shooting off an unfounded argument simply to justify a stagnant tourist industry in Dominica. The problem exists in backward Dominica alone; you are simply trying to impress the candidates; “well we are all in the same boat.”
Wrong!
Your, and the Labor Party ineffectiveness is Dominica’s problem, all of the Caribbean islands from Jamaica in the North, to Guiana in the South, and all of the islands in between are enjoying their fair share of the tourist industry, and they welcome their visitors unlike Dominica; and it has been like that for many years, as a matter of fact islands such as Antigua’s economy seems totally dependent on tourism, there are no agricultural plantations on the island, as a matter of fact they abandoned the sugar cane plantations in the 1970’s and replaced it with tourism. As a result Antigua has become one of the most developed islands in the Caribbean.
Sugar may still be produced in Barbados, however, the people of Barbados depends tremendously on tourism which is a major factor in sustaining their economy. Trinidad which is an industrialization nation, with Oil, LPG, and other natural resources, maintains a vibrant tourist industry. I can name St. Kitts, and Nevis all doing well in the industry, and if you note carefully the reason for their success in the business is all due to these islands having International Airports.
When you say that visitors are being treated as if they are not welcome, that is a bunch of hogwash; anywhere the tourist visits there will always be like, and dislikes, and if you believe that Dominicans treat visitors to our country as if they are not welcome, that is a local problem you need to solve by educating the public that we depend on visitors, and their spending power on the island which in the interim will benefit the nation, therefore we should treat our visitors with respect, and dignity when they visit with us!
You have an audience, so you are on your back feet talking crap; when they leave, and you stop talking crap, what are you going to do to resolve the problem if any that you are babbling about? It is never the same on the other islands as it always is in Dominica!
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
You are a Government hater > you never see any thing possitive that any of the ministers or supporters of govt is saying .the way you talk is like you are the most brilliant Dominican.You are not F.
If you are referring to me let it be known to you; if I was an idiot perhaps I would bury my head in the sand as an ostrich to everything that is taking place in Dominica, and agree with you that the present government is doing well.
Well, I hate to burst your thin, and shallow bubble, and say to you loud and clear; they have reached their peak, they have become politically bankrupt of ideas, and cannot do anything significant any longer, and I am not going to be a hypocrite and say well done!
Remember while the Ostrich head is in the sand, and the bird believes it is safe, the backside of that same Ostrich is up in the air exposed to the wind and the predictor it is running from and every other danger, so are you; danger is in your face and you cannot even recognized it, because your are blinded by the political brainwashing which binds you and prevents you from seeing and facing reality!
Dominica, is undoubtedly the poorest and most backward place I know, and I am not going to pretend any different, if you want you can call me a government hater to the day the nation collapses under the Labor Government if that’s your wish I could care less, but do not anticipate I will become an idiot like your kind and claim “Rome was not build in a day.”
Rome has been building in Dominica under the Labor Party for only God knows how long; so do not expect me to condone crap. If they have done something which deserves my credit, I give them that credit, however I am not prepared to give credit where credit is not due. My support has it limit! Every time some like me have the courage to speak out, fools and idiots like you brand them government hater, well I much prefer to be branded a government hater, than to kiss the butt of any government minister while singing for my supper, none of them are bigger than I am, and since I am not looking for, nor anticipate anything from government, I am free to express my opinions, say anything I wish, unless I am making unfounded allegations in regards any politician. You cannot be like me because your are a brainwashed puppet, looking for a handout, I have already worked for all that desire.
Who the hell are you?
I am Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
I am a firm believer in fairness and impartiality, with my commentaries on current affairs deemed necessary to nation building of my birth land (regardless of politics and political affiliations). I do not see politics as my primary concern is Dominica (the nation) first and foremost. With that said, I must admit that the Hon. Ian Douglas based on this article, this is much better than yesterday. However, one must prudent person must ask are these two separate speeches delivered by the Hon. Minister to the same regional group? From the intent of the articles it appears portrayed that to be the case, but I doubt that to be the truth. In that case, I guess that the media has dissected the Minister’s speech and published segments thereby creating that firestorm yesterday of comments directed at the Minister which I, too, was a contributor. If that is proven to be the case, I am strongly against such form of journalism. If a Minister gives a speech why not address all the relevant segments/elements/highlighted points of his/her speech in one article? I assumed that the sole purpose of that MOD is to make mileage in the media. The media should not write and publish articles in segments to distort the entire message of the person delivering the speech (for whatever the purpose). It is imperative to report the truth as it is to the masses and let us make up our own minds (pro v. con).
In my view, if the media had published the entire speech or wrote a more comprehensive article addressing and/or alluding to all the relevant points in the Minister’s speech then people like me, who is an independent and objective thinker, with no political affiliation and biases, will be better able to comment or debate the issues more intelligently. Given these facts, I would conclude that the media did not do justice to the Minister’s speech by publishing it the way they did. The same way we are giving the Minister and the Government administration heat then the same should be given to the media when they screw up
” I would conclude that the media did not do justice to the Minister’s speech by publishing it the way they did.”
You know dealing with an idiot who continuously makes confounded statements; it is basically impossible for any media to deal with his comments in an intellectual manner, Ian is nothing more than total nonsense. Today he is rambling about the amount of money spent in the Caribbean on tourism advertisement, but the fact is Dominica is not spending a dime to advise Dominica.
When they talk about tourism week in Dominica, it may be heard on some islands of the Caribbean, and in Dominica, but how many international tourist travels to the Caribbean, tagging along with a Radio or Television specifically to tune in to Dominica to find out what do we have on our tourist agenda?
Right at this moment I am in my living Room watching the Price is Right, seeing people winning trips to vacation on different islands of the Caribbean, especially on the islands where Club Med operates, even the small island of Anguilla advertise; this clown Ian has never thought of advertising Dominica on national Television any place in Europe, Canada, nor the United States, so how can he dare open his mouth to talk about money spent on advertisement.
The man is a joke!
Once I saw a woman won a trip to Dominica on either the Price is Rght or Wheal of Fortune, and that was not complements the Dominica tourist association. The man who owns Jungle Bay Hotel sponsored that from his pocket, hence Dominica got a small amount of publicity that morning nation wide. Other than that Dominica is not advertised as a tourist destination; his song, and dance is all about Dominica is the nature island of the world.
Nature island of the World simply translate into the most primitive place left in the world!
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
well said!
Ian continue to give your tongue chain!