Dominica has launched a new global campaign as it seeks to remind holidaymakers the island is open for business following last year’s Tropical Storm Erika.
The Seeking Adventurers campaign highlights Dominica’s hiking, diving, whale-watching, canyoning and other activities, and will include digital advertising in the UK and other source markets that points to the microsite dominicaadventures.com Hotels including Fort Young Hotel, Pagua Bay House and Calibishie Cove are taking part in a buy-four-nights-get-one-free promotion.
Colin Piper, chief executive of the Discover Dominica Authority, said the microsite would also list tour operator partners such as Caribtours and Expedia.com, “to give back to those that have supported us so well”. “We got so much publicity after Erika but it was the wrong kind of publicity, the wrong kind of images to be lasting on people’s minds,” said Piper.
“With this new campaign we want to reassure people that we’ve still got plenty of the good stuff.” The tropical storm, which hit the island unexpectedly last August, triggered catastrophic flooding and mudslides, killing at least 31 people and causing an estimated $482 million-worth of damage to homes, roads and other infrastructure.
Piper said that while Jungle Bay – the worst affected hotel – is unlikely to be able to reopen on the same site, almost all other tourist accommodation is functioning again. Despite losing arrivals in the aftermath of the storm, Dominica finished 2015 only slightly down on 2014. Piper said that until the storm hit, the UK market was performing strongly, and despite losing visitors later in the year, the UK still grew a small amount overall – the only source market to do so.
“Our hope is to end 2016 as we did in 2014, in terms of total arrivals,” he added. The UK currently makes up 5,000 of the island’s 80,000 total arrivals. Piper said while the government had been due to increase the island’s tourism marketing budget by a third for 2016, an increase is now unlikely in the wake of Erika.