Steady Growth for Cruise Industry in Dominica

Tourism officials in Dominica believe that the cruise industry is continuing to see steady growth, highlighting six cruise liners that docked here for the first time, as a major achievement.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism, Loreen Bannis-Roberts, said the heightened activity showed clearly that government is taking cruise tourism seriously.

“We are vigorously pursuing other cruise lines to visit our shores so that even out of the normal cruise ship season, we will have year round visits to Dominica,” Mrs. Bannis-Roberts said, noting that many locals are dependant on this industry.

The National Development Corporation, the government agency promoting the island, organized a taste of Dominica´s Carnival for the thousands of visitors recently.

A leading local group, the Colihaut Band Mové and Lapeau Cabrit, put on a cultural show with traditional costumes and goat-skin drums in welcoming visitors to the island´s capital, Roseau.

Mrs. Bannis-Roberts said that the record number of ships calling here would have had a significant impact on the local economy.

“On the surface we noticed that people were actually queuing up to go on tours and that means that there was a great demand for the services that we offer as well as the products. I could see from the faces of our vendors, our tour operators and our taxi drivers that they were very happy with what went on,” the Minister said.