Colin Piper, Director of Tourism and Chief Executive Officer of Discover Dominica

Colin Piper, Director of Tourism and Chief Executive Officer of Discover Dominica
By Jose Carlos de Santiago

In the southern Caribbean, between Guadalupe and Martinique, Dominica obtains direct and indirect incomes from the travel industry, which represent more than the 24 percent of the island’s Gross Domestic Product, with less than 80,000 inhabitants.      

What are the main tourist outbound markets for Dominica?
We have about four or five primary source markets. We get tourists coming from Guadalupe and Martinique, and then also from other Caribbean islands, such as Barbados, Antigua, Saint Lucia. We also get a lot of visitors from North America, with those coming from the United States in greater number than from Canada. And then we also market our island in a few other source markets, primarily the United Kingdom, as well as France, the German speaking market and Scandinavian countries.

Are you working with Maison de la France?
No, we work with Interface Tourism; it is our partner in France. They cover both Metropolitan France and the French West Indies.

What do you consider the most important strengths of the Dominican tourist product?
Dominica has comparative advantages in two primary areas: one would be in scuba diving (Dominica is considered one of the top ten dive destinations in the world), and the other would be in hiking; we are the only Caribbean island to have one contiguous hiking from the southern part of the island to the northern part of the island.

It is called the Waitukubuli National Trail, and it is 115 miles long (about 184 kilometers). The trail is divided into 14 continuous segments: each segment has a different theme, some are geographic, some are cultural, and some are historical…

Why Waitukubuli?
Waitukubuli is the indigenous name of the island, Dominica, which was given to us by the last remaining indigenous people, the Kalinago or the Carib Indians, and it means “tall is her body”.

Have you heard about FITUR travel trade fair in Madrid?
Yes, I am familiar with it; unfortunately we have not participated there because Spain is not a primary source market for Dominica. With our French and English history, there is more affinity to mainland France, the French West Indies and the UK. We are going to focus on areas where we think we might be able to get easier access and more awareness in order to get more visitors.