Eco tourism.

200 cruise ships come to Dominica annually. Each ship brings from 21/2 to 4 thousand people plus crew. And the companies are building new, larger ships. Most of these people don’t come ashore in Dominica. Partly that’s because the ships want to hold their passengers’ money captive. They tell passengers not to buy island goods because they can’t put them on credit cards, and can’t return them because they won’t be remaining on the island. They tell people not to eat on the island because it may be unsanitary (while illnesses resulting from filthy cruise ship kitchens are a news scandal!). They might at least take tours (the ships’ pursers are happy to take payola to arrange taxis) but they don’t know, what’s interesting here. If they do take tours, they might spend some money here too.

If each tourist spends 100 dollars, it will be generate more than millions of income for Dominicans annually. We must find ways to entice people from their cabins on the cruise ship to come ashore (and spend money).

Walking routes work well with “eco-tourists” on windjammers. (But the big cruise ship passengers tend to be older, fatter, lazier, and less inclined toward enjoying nature – they want the “theme park/casino/Las Vegas/Disneyworld atmosphere aboard the ship.) The tour themes of be varied and as simple as showing growing bananas or pineapples, unfamiliar to northern peoples. It is important have trained tour guides: friendly and able to speak so as to be easily understood in English by people unfamiliar with the Dominican accent, as well as some other European languages.

• “Pirates of the Caribbean” tour – the movie locations.
• Helicopters and in small plane aerial tours. For taking beautiful souvenir photos.
• Fishing.
• Tropical forest and jungles, including hikes to waterfalls and volcanoes.
• Historical tours, featuring shows and presentations with people in Creole costumes at the ruined fort or other historical spots illustrating stories. For example, the romantic story, how coffee was stolen to the Caribbean (promoting our coffee). Dominican coffee is healthy and natural. Show the advantages of Dominica coffee, cocoa, and so on.
• Show sugar refining, rum-making and etc.
• On every ship you definitely can find several divers, so have tours to our outstanding dive spots.
• Rides around island with stops in picturesque places, with food stops. Eco-tourists are usually willing to sample local dishes, while cruise ship passengers are always stuffing themselves with food.

Government investment in marketing is necessary, so that when tourists arrive on Dominica, they’ll know what to do and what is interesting here. And so that they can plan their vacation before they will come.

• It’s necessary have good promotional Web sites about Dominica and its charms.
• Advertise on other sites, where the visitors come on hits on such searches as: “Caribbean, cruises, Dominica, order tickets on cruise ship, etc.”
• Provide this information on CDs promote the CDs where cruise ships tickets are sold. Good themes for CDs: images of nature and underwater world.
• Promote publish advertisements on the cruise ships.

All advertisements must describe not only general plans and give general information, but must also contain specific stories of travel in the Dominica. Invite travel journalists, offering them free travels with tours in Dominica. It’s important for credibility that these stories will are told by “third party” – not by Dominicans. People who’ve already visited Dominica could also give their impressions and opinions on the site.

All Caribbean islands aren’t the same, and tourists need to know that! Dominica needs better air service, because it is much more easily to hop to Antigua or Barbados (just 10 hours on one direct flight from Europe and less from most of the USA). But to reach Dominica takes longer and involves plane changes.

“Nature island of the Caribbean” is good slogan, it show the unspoiled island, but perhaps “Unique Nature island of the Caribbean” might even be better. Tourists think: “Oh, it’s the nature island, but so are other islands”. In Dominica they can to see things you can’t see on other islands.

Everything depends on good marketing and promotion. Dominica has to learn how to promote itself. All advertisements about Dominica should shout "Don’t lose your chance to see, what unique Dominican natural wonders”.