Plans for a Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) for Dominica will soon become a reality, Discover Dominica Authority (DDA) officials are saying.
According to the DDA funding for the project has been secured from the European Union 10th European Development Fund (EDU).
Although the DDA is remaining tightlipped on the actual amount, Director of Tourism Colin Piper said the TSA will assist in determining what kind of impact tourism dollars have on the country.
“A lot of us don’t attribute you buying a school uniform for your child is partly as a result of tourists coming to Dominica,” he said, “But from gathering the statistics, we might be able to determine that …”
He explained the TSA will be “a system of gathering tourism related statistics, that when taken can give us a true indication and a better picture of the value of tourism to the economy.”
He said it will be important for the sustainability of the tourism sector, “and something that needs to be done.”
“I would say we are probably a year away from getting the results,” Piper noted.
Meantime, the DDA is seeking to heighten the awareness of the country’s tourism product and as a result, a Guadeloupean journalist, Guillaume Aricique, will be on island experiencing the country first hand.
Aricique’s focus will be new developments in Dominica’s tourism industry and Carnival celebrations. He will be visiting attractions such as the Indian River and the Kalinago Barana Aute, according to the DDA.
He will also provide coverage of some carnival activities.
Aricique, who will be in Dominica from February 14 to the 17, writes for Focus le Mag, a bimonthly magazine with a reading audience of 20,000.
Piper noted that the is one of the ways the DDA increases awareness of Dominica and forges closer ties with regional and international countries and markets.
As a matter of fact, he disclosed, the DDA is on a drive to get one journalist to visit Dominica per month “and to get them from the various source markets of the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the Caribbean.”
He said the DDA’s goal is to have at least five journalists in Dominica every month writing about different aspects of DOminica such as nature, cuisine, culture, the World Creole Music Festival and so on.
“Just as long as we get Dominica in the press, making people more aware of the destination,” Piper noted.
In spite of all these initiatives we don’t seem to get an idea from time to of the state of hotel bookings for the current season.Antigua for example is recording excellent bookings, what about DA
One of my favorite spots in Dominica.
Mr. Piper this should have been your first mandate when you picked up the role as head of DDA. Without this it is clear why the DDA is failing in its responsibility to promote Dominica effectively as a tourist destinations.
Anyway we are glad for it finally and I hope the information is used properly to develop DA as a tourist destination.
What is a Tourism Satellite Account?
Just axe googs….
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_tourism_satellite_account
http://www.linguee.de/deutsch-englisch/search?query=satellite+account&moreResults=1&source=englisch
Pay la
The EU always supporting! We eeed to say thanks to them and those who working for them
If advertisers spent the same amount of money on improving there product as they do on advertising they wouldn’t need to advertise.
What exactly are you speaking about? Who are these advertisers and what are they advertising?
DDA promotes the entire country’s tourism products/services and does not manage or own any so I’m not clear as to what you are referencing when you comment.
Also the correct word is “their” not “there”. We need to take better command of the English Language if we want to speak it.
Thumbs up Mr. Piper! Kudos to you and your team for your efforts. Keep going. Thanks!