Volume No. 2 Issue No. 56 - Friday October 3, 2008
Tourism Master Plan: Dominica
 Nathaniel Peltier
Nathaniel Peltier
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Dominica is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. With regards to beauty, in my opinion, second to none.
One might say I�m partial, because I am a Dominican. This is true to some extent, but in my years of travel I�ve met countless non-nationals who have visited the island, and share my view on its unique splendour.
A shift from Agriculture to tourism on the island has shown some fruit. The question that still remains in my opinion is; are we doing it right? In the last few years we have embarked on a tourism master plan that looks very interesting.
This is a ten year program that aims to propel the tourism industry of Dominica. In this master plan, there is a lot of comparison to other destinations that were like us, and have failed or have succeeded; e.g. Ireland.
We are a country of limited resources and need to use our tourism budget and natural resources efficiently, in order to become more successful in the tourism industry. The history of our tourism industry has shown a dependence, or one can say, an over dependence on certain markets. And it seems that our new tourism policy is going down the same road.
In the past we have seem how over dependence on markets and industries has led our country almost to disaster. To embark on a program that causes us to make almost the same error in the tourism industry, can not be in the best interest of any stakeholder.
If we look at the tourism statistics from the base year of the tourism master plan of Dominica, 2005, we can see that there is a need for concentration on other markets for us to be successful in the tourism industry. The statistics show that regardless of marketing efforts and money spent in our alleged key market; the USA, we are still not moving forward with regard to getting returns on investment; �ADVERTISING INVESTMENT� that is.
With regard to our Ecotourism philosophy, in order to be more efficient we should be looking at markets that follow these concepts and should be investing more with regard to marketing there. Our markets should be where we are able to rip the benefits of both sustainability and economic prosperity.
It should be markets that appreciate what the destination has to offer for what it is. And there is such a market. This market is just not being tapped to its maximum. If we are to achieve long term benefits from tourism, that is where we should be going and we should be going there now.
Putting money into a market that is increasing at a decreasing rate is a typical waste; whereas the markets that are higher spenders and much bigger are being neglected.
When looking at the Cruise industry in Dominica, one can safely say that the numbers have increased and the prospects are that they will continue increasing. The point is, is that all we want? Cruise tourism? Apart from the revenue that is being generated when they come on their visits, what value are they to us? Research is needed on how many of these guests actually return to Dominica.
Mention has been made of an increase in diving on Dominica. This is true, but how far does cruise tourism affect this figure? Fact is that there are a lot of cruise tourists using these facilities hence affecting the statistics.
When one looks at the state of the tourism industry in Dominica there are other questions to be asked. For instance, why is it that we are getting more arrivals in the low tourism season than in the high season? Is it that our own pricing policy has deceived us?
Dominica must start pushing investment not in the major existing markets but need to invest more heavily into market that share our ideas of eco and sustainable tourism.
Dominica has the potential even as is, to be one of the leaders in our Niche market area.
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