According to Tourism Minister Denise Charles-Pemberton, the government has made major investments in increasing access to Dominica as a destination.
She was speaking during a debate in parliament this week on a $69,930,000 loan from the International Development Association. Part of that loan will be used to assist with marketing for Dominica.
“The investment we have made in increasing access to the destination,” she said. “First we moved from having no night landing to night landing, the extension we did at the airport…allowed us to welcome a second direct flight from the United States on United Airlines.”
Charles-Pemberton continued, “I am not even talking about the direct flights from American Airlines, I am talking about the investment we had to make, I think over 20-something million dollars to extend that runway so we could receive larger aircrafts.”
She added, “And sometimes we underestimate the amount of money the government has to spend to increase access to the destination, so I wanted to make the point that we have done a lot to ensure that more people can come to Dominica.”
Furthermore, she emphasized as a destination it is very important that direct flights to Dominica see an increase.
“And we must not fool ourselves, even if we are brothers and sisters in the Caribbean and we say that we are one Caribbean and one OECS, it is a very competitive market and most people do not like to overnight or spend hours waiting in an airport to catch another flight,” Charles-Pemberton noted. “And most people don’t even like to go on smaller aircrafts and so it is very important that as a destination we can increase direct flights to Dominica.”
She also stated that as Dominica prepares for the grand opening of the international airport in 2027, “we have to keep the momentum.”
“And that is why those funds are coming handy for us to continue our niche marketing,” she stated. “ We are very careful Mr. Speaker so I can give the FS [Financial Secretary] and the Minister of Finance the confidence [that these] monies will be well spent in key source markets.”
In the meantime, Charles Pemberton went on to add that her ministry is very focused on marketing the destination diving, wellness, and agro-tourism, that are being promoted.
“Over the few months we have done some road shows in critical cities like New Jersey, we will be going to Colorado, California where there is a key interest in Dominica, Mr Speaker, to continue to market the diverse and unique products that we have in Dominica,” she noted.
