Dominica is moving to take its tourism industry to the “world traveller” with the introduction of a new marketing thrust championed by Trinidad and Tobago’s Toute Bagai Publishing Company (TBP). TBP, well known for its MACO magazines, has been contracted to produce the Dominica Hotel and Tourism Association (DHTA)’s marquee in-room publication Experience Dominica.
Plans for the launching of the new look magazine will be announced at the week end, Saturday, May 2 when for the first time travel, trade, airline, tour operators and other industry representatives including the DHTA membership gather for a National Tourism Tradeshow & Cocktail at the Cabrits National Park, Portsmouth, Dominica, W.I.
They will be treated to a presentation by Managing Director of TBP Neysha Soodeen who will announce plans for the publication, which will especially target the neighbouring French markets of Martinique, Guadeloupe, and metropolitan France. The magazine which is being produced particularly for in-room guests will also be distributed internationally through destination marketing representatives in Germany, France, England, Canada and the United States.
Executive Vice President of the DHTA Stephanie Astaphan said they were pleased to partner with TBP, as they look to enhance distribution through the separate French and English digital versions. “We also hope to increase our readership by providing side-by-side French and English translations of feature content in the bi-lingual print version of the magazine.” Astaphan said that TBP’s reputation for exceptional quality and organic Caribbean content is especially appealing and “we are excited to apply this winning formula to Experience Dominica.”
For her part Soodeen explained that Dominica is not an island where visitors stay in one place for too long, “It’s not your average ‘beach’ holiday and thus we feel that the interactive, digital versions of this guide are hugely important.”
She said that while Dominica remains one of the most stunning islands in the Caribbean, due to its size, and with no international direct flights, the island needs to present itself and all that it has to offer in a sophisticated manner which will attract the first world traveller.
“TBP is honoured to be working with the Dominica Hotel & Tourism Association on this project. Not only on the printed magazine but on the digital copy which will be published in separate Anglophone and Francophone versions,” she said.
Experience Dominica 2016 will be launched in October.
Due to the limitation of writing space it is sometimes difficult to give a good explanation of the matter., nevertheless the person who informed me of this great plan that when the visitors to Barbados, were through with the Asphalt jungle of Barbados, they head to Da, was a member of “DHTA.”
He told me from Barbados they would come to Dominica to enjoy the real jungles of the Nature Island. His idea was that the visitors would sail from Barbados in some boat to Nature island, and then fly from Dominica to their home wherever they came from. What this former DHTA member failed to remember is that Dominica’s problem then and now is that we do not have an International Airport.
The only way we can beginning to mumble about any great share in the tourist industry, will be when there is an asphalt runway in Dominica that can accommodate the 747/748/787 and larger.
That may sound good to people who do not know what it takes to promote and tourism to the world traveler, so I can state categorically, that all of the above is nothing more than rubbish talk and wishful thinking. If we hope to sell Dominica as a tourist destination, on the back of anything involving Trinidad or any other island in the Caribbean, the whole idea becomes a myth!
You see, that movie was promised in Dominica way back in the 1980’s when someone told me that there was something in the making that Barbados was going to link Dominica as part of visitors package to Barbados. The person who gave me that info is a small guest house operator on the island.
He told me after the visitor to Barbados, came off the asphalt jungle in Barbados, they would be brought to Dominica, and head for home. No international Airport in Dominica; means a myth!