Over 300 000 cruise visitors spend US $14.1 million in Dominica

This information is contained in a study commissioned by the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) and conducted by the Business Research and Economic Advisors (BREA), which analysed spending by passengers, crew members and cruise lines in the 21 destinations surveyed.

The report determined that approximately 295 000 arrivals went onshore, from a total of 336, 700 in Dominica, spending an average of US $47.80. By contrast, cruise arrivals in St Maarten spent US $185.4 for a total spending of US $356.1 million, and the average for the Region was US $95.92 at a total of US $1.9 billion.

Of the twenty-one countries surveyed, Dominica ranked better than only Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Nicaragua in terms of total economic contribution from cruise tourism.

Thirty-three percent of cruise ship visitors into Dominica said they were ‘likely’ to return for a longer visit to Dominica. More than twice that figure 65 percent said they would ‘likely’ return to the United States Virgin Islands.

When compared to stayover visitors into Dominica for the same period, 62 000 visitors are estimated to have spent US $ 96.2 million. The extremely low returns to cruise ship arrivals continue to fuel debate on the island as to whether the country should continue to invest so heavily in that sector.