(RoSTI) ANNUAL REPORT 2003 - WIDECAST

RoSTI Annual Report 2003
Franklin, Byrne and Eckert (2004)
Preliminary Market Assessment
Total tourist arrivals for the calendar year 2002 (1 January - 31 December) was 69,338 persons. Most
visitors (40,332 persons, or 58% of all incoming tourists) came from other Caribbean states. The French
West Indies and the USA contributed the largest numbers of visitors (16,935 and 15,491 people,
respectively), accounting for nearly 22% and 21% (respectively) of the visitors to Dominica, making them
relatively important markets. While statistics from the Dominica Tourism Department suggest that most
visitors (60%) across all markets stay in private accommodation, 18,491 (27%) utilise hotels and
guesthouses. Across countries most people seem to visit Dominica primarily for leisure. Data indicate
that 54,719 (78.9%) of the 69,338 persons who came to Dominica did so to experience the natural
attractions of the “Nature Isle”.
Table 7. Relative Importance of Dominica’s Five Largest Tourism Markets. Source: Dominica Tourism
Department (2002). [Note: the percentages do not sum to 100% because there is geo-political overlap
among some categories.]
Largest Tourism Markets
Country Visitors Percentage of Total Visitors
Caribbean 40,332 58.17
French West Indies 16,935 24.42
United States 15,491 22.34
CARICOM 14,361 20.71
Europe 10,193 14.70
RoSTI staff members have given a large number of public presentations to visiting tourists, especially
SCUBA divers associated with Dive Dominica and Castle Comfort Lodge. All divers (and staff) have
shown a great interest in seeing turtles and learning about their biology, both on the boat and on land.
Every weekend at Dive Dominica, RoSTI Project Manager Rowan Byrne gave presentations aboard dive
boats and shared facts on sea turtles with tourists. On several occasions these presentations resulted in
tourists making the trip to Rosalie Beach to view sea turtles, with great support from Dive Dominica.
Next year (2004) RoSTI is planning to host a “Turtle Safari” as part of DiveFest 2004, and more sea turtle
presentations island-wide with an emphasis on dive resorts
Reassured by the interest of visiting divers, RoSTI staff initiated a preliminary “market assessment” on
the proposed ‘Turtle Watching’ attraction (please refer to the “Methodology” section for background).
Interviews were conducted with 19 respondents, 13 of whom were men (68.4%) and 6 women (31.6%).
Most of the respondents (42%) were between 30 and 45 years of age, 31% were aged 46 years and over,
and the rest (27%) were 20 years old or younger. Just over half (53%) of the respondents were “stay-over
visitors”. This is important because while Dominica presently receives many cruise-ship visitors, they are
only on the island for one day and try to see as much of the island as possible (usually island tours), rather
than choosing to visit one attraction. However, due to their sheer numbers it would be make sense to
explore an alternative that would be of interest to them. By its very nature, a ‘Turtle Watching’
programme focused on nesting females would not be an option for this market (because nesting occurs at
night), but perhaps some type of presentation or interpretative centre would be useful both from a profitmaking
standpoint and from a public awareness standpoint. Stay-over visitors, on the other hand, might
participate in a ‘Turtle Watch’ and they should be the initial focus of any such initiative.
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