![\"\"](\"http:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/dno\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/commentary1.jpg\" "\\"commentary\\"")
Following my departure from the former National Development Corporation, I was encouraged, sometimes pressured into writing tourism related articles.\u00a0 I chose not to as I always felt that whatever I said would have been regarded as \u201csour grapes\u201d among other things.\u00a0 Instead I chose to stand back and give the new arrangement its chance to make its mark. A recent incident compelled me to put my fingers to the keyboard.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, September 1, 2010, I traveled to Guadeloupe for business purposes. Prior travel dates had to be canceled due to the unavailability of ferry and airline services. I was and still am surprised at just how difficult it was\/is to travel to Guadeloupe from Dominica.\u00a0 One would expect that an Island less than 100 miles away would have relatively good air and sea access especially as, for as long as I can remember, the French Islands have always been hyped up as the most obvious tourism source market for Dominica. Our \u201cwindow\u201d to Europe was a popular idiom used.<\/p>\n
A trip, by ferry, which was supposed to be a more relaxing, less stressful mode of travel between Dominica and Guadeloupe, turned out to be one of the most horrific travel experiences I have ever encountered.<\/p>\n
Tourism is my background.\u00a0 As a tourism professional, and especially given the very fast paced evolution that is now the order of business where tourism marketing is concerned, there is not one tourism expert that will not whole-heartedly agree with the fact that word of mouth promotion has and will continue to be the most powerful and effective form of promotion.\u00a0 Today, it is given more savvy terms like viral marketing.\u00a0 Bottom line is that there is power in the spoken word \u2013 negative or positive.<\/p>\n
Before I begin to give an account of my horrific experience leaving Dominica last week, I want to preface my comments by saying that as a tourism professional, and a frequent traveler, I am well aware of the fact that a typical routine day could go wrong at the \u201cflip of a switch.\u201d\u00a0 I am also acutely aware of the fact that with very limited air and sea access, ground handling agents and the port authority should be masters at managing flight and ferry cancellations.\u00a0 They should be able to write and own the manual on how to handle cancellations \u2013 regardless of the circumstance. Far too often we are given the excuse that a day gone wrong is not common.<\/p>\n
I along with my two travel companions were advised to arrive at the Roseau Ferry terminal at 5 pm.\u00a0 We did as we were told.\u00a0 Upon arrival, and as expected, we met a very large and anxious grouping of passengers who were also expecting to travel to Guadeloupe.\u00a0 The gate leading to the check in area was still closed but opened just past 5 pm.\u00a0 I immediately observed that there was only one port officer on duty.\u00a0 He was totally ill-equipped to handle the next 2.5 hours.\u00a0 He obviously did not see it fit to immediately call for additional help.\u00a0 Try and imagine 250 plus people forcing and fighting their way to and through one entrance, less than 5 feet wide.\u00a0 Tensions immediately began to rise.<\/p>\n
I witnessed at least five vicious arguments that stopped short of all out physical showdown.\u00a0 Bags were being thrown, pushed and shoved like sheets of paper.\u00a0 Children were crying, people were all sweating profusely.\u00a0 I witnessed one young man faint.\u00a0 Fortunately, the crowd was so thick that it prevented him from falling flat and causing himself serious harm.\u00a0 There were nationals traveling to Guadeloupe for medical attention.\u00a0 Imagine the additional anguish such persons had to endure.\u00a0 There were no lines, no semblance of law and order for what should have been a very routine procedure. Seats in the departure lounge were not wet from spilled water but rather from dripping sweat. The chaos was caused by the cancelation of ferry service two or three days prior due to inclement weather caused by the passage of Hurricane Earl.\u00a0 I am certain that this was not the first time that the ferry\u2019s agent in Dominica had to deal with cancelations.<\/p>\n
All over the world there are standard procedures for how to deal with confirmed passengers and those placed on a standby list.\u00a0 An agent who has been in business for as much as 100 years should have anticipated the frustration, raised tempers, pushing, shoving, and anxiety of the travelers and put a comprehensive plan in place to have avoided the horrific experience for both Dominicans and visitors alike.\u00a0 I saw the horror on the faces of the visitors departing Dominica.\u00a0 I took time to speak to some of them and was not at all surprised to hear them express the fact that they would NEVER RETURN TO DOMINICA.<\/p>\n
The aforementioned forces one to assess the importance of Dominica as a destination for Express Des Isles. Perhaps the persons who use the ferry services are not considered important enough customers to warrant \u2018excellent and professional\u2019 service as those coming through on the cruise ships or travelling on the airlines.\u00a0\u00a0 It certainly is grounds for a discussion as to whether ferry passengers often profiled as hagglers, hucksters and miscreants of society who have run away to “Gwada” to commit crimes are being treated as second class visitors to Dominica.<\/p>\n
To the ferry company they may be, but to us in Dominica they should be regarded as men and women of the soil, those who work hard to send back remittances for their families left back in Dominica.\u00a0 They are to be respected just as much as those of us who dress nicely to travel to the United States and further afield.\u00a0 They are to be given international check-in procedures and safety screenings, and an air-conditioned departure lounge. It is they \u2013 the very Dominicans living in \u201cGwada\u201d –\u00a0 that also have the power to spread the word to French nationals, who ordinarily do not see Dominica as possible close and different vacation option. It is only the French market, out of all the markets that Dominica promotes itself on, that has two access options \u2013 air and sea.\u00a0 If the ferry agent, port authority and Express Des Iles saw these passengers as important travelers, they would insist on the same procedures that govern passengers traveling on American Airlines, simply to avoid the negative backlash from angry passengers who would not hesitate to put pen to paper or call on prominent international media outlets to make them aware of the way they were being treated in a foreign land.\u00a0 This disparity in procedure only serves to reinforce the fact that the French market is not seen as an important market for Dominica by tourism officials and that lip service is all it is given.<\/p>\n
What about our Air and Sea Port Authority?\u00a0 Should they not have been working hand in hand with the ferry agent to implement a plan of action that would have avoided last evening\u2019s m\u00eal\u00e9e at the ferry terminal?\u00a0 The powers of each sit on boards together.\u00a0 Not only do they sit on the same boards, they are also charged with the development of tourism in Dominica.\u00a0 Stop paying lip service to tourism development in Dominica.\u00a0 Roll up your sleeves and get to work. The French market is in your backyard.\u00a0 You have a captive audience of about 1 million people that are less than 2 hours away from Dominican shores.\u00a0 Stop using a plethora of fluffy adjectives to describe your commitment to service and improving the tourism product in Dominica and make your actions speak louder than your words.<\/p>\n
I read yesterday (September 1st, 2010) that one prominent business house marked a mile stone in its existence.\u00a0 I read about the company\u2019s commitment to good customer service.\u00a0 Over the years I have listened to the expressions of commitment to tourism development in Dominica. My experience last evening at the Roseau Ferry Terminal confirmed that this commitment may very well be lip service that definitely continues to foster negative word of mouth promotion for Dominica.<\/p>\n
Three years ago, a former tourism colleague and I were told that we were mere technocrats.\u00a0 We were told by the righteous dollar man that we needed to become traders.\u00a0 We needed to pick up our brief cases as if they were filled with cloth and head into the market to effect change and sell.\u00a0 We have a new tourism entity.\u00a0 The master minds of self-proclaimed tourism experts.\u00a0 It replaced a top heavy, bureaucratic machine that was obsolete and self-absorbed.\u00a0 The new entity promised positive change.\u00a0 I have been looking for that change.\u00a0 I want to learn something new from that change.\u00a0 Regrettably, thus far it has not taught me anything new.\u00a0 I remain hopeful nevertheless. Hopeful that I will be taught something new and that Dominica could one day soon enjoy increased foreign exchange earnings from visitors that are within our immediate reach.<\/p>\n
I call on the boards of the agencies charged with tourism development to use their supposed additional resources, skilled work force and more efficient systems and procedures to foster one of the basic ingredients of any marketing mix \u2013 positive word of mouth.<\/p>\n
Former secretary general of the Caribbean Tourism Organization Dr. Jean Holder, in one of his many speeches, had rightfully said that no matter how skillfully crafted and funded a sound marketing plan was, it could not sell a poor product twice.\u00a0 As a tourism marketing professional I endorse those sentiments and would go on to add that no amount of lip service will bring Dominica one step closer to realizing the true potential that lies just north and south of our shores.<\/p>\n
We recently read of the cancellation of weekly calls by Carnival Cruise to Dominica.\u00a0 The reason given by the cruise line was the high cost of fuel.\u00a0 The average Dominican does not believe this to be the true reason.\u00a0 I listened to the cruise line\u2019s representative in Dominica during a radio interview, giving what I believe to be the true reasons why the line decided to cancel calls to Dominica.<\/p>\n
Such honesty in my view is good, but is \u201ctoo little too late.\u201d\u00a0 When one was\/is charged with being the custodian of the Roseau bayfront and more importantly still has representation on the entity charged with tourism development in Dominica, it begs the question: why weren\u2019t these important issues raised publicly before now?<\/p>\n
Far too often we are happy to report good news and accolades.\u00a0 We remain dumb, we choose to be like ostriches and bury our heads in the sand when it comes to the real truth or the hard painful facts.\u00a0 Again, lip service that in the end will cost the average person his or her ability to make a sustained livelihood. Written by Steve A. Johnson B.Comm, M.Sc. (Tourism)<\/strong>
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\nThe issues raised were a very accurate account of why Dominica is losing appeal among cruise lines.\u00a0 Let us accept them, address them and stop paying lip service to tourism development in Dominica. <\/em><\/p>\n
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\nThe views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of Dominica News Online, its management and staff and parent companies.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following my departure from the former National Development Corporation, I was encouraged, sometimes pressured into writing tourism related articles.\u00a0 I chose not to as I always felt that whatever I said would have been regarded as \u201csour grapes\u201d among other…","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n