09/03/2021
The Dominica Hotel & Tourism Association (DHTA) stands for the rights of all of its members large and small. We are an association working with our industry stakeholders to keep Dominica safe and affordable for all Dominicans returning to the island, and for visitors who need to quarantine.
Dominica’s beautiful, safe and certified guesthouses, cottages, and small hotels are in danger of being forced to close! Government officials are considering the removal of many small, local certified accommodations from the list of quarantine options within the next few weeks. This will reduce the number of affordable, Safe-In-Nature accommodations that Dominican Nationals and visitors are able to use for quarantine and will force many properties to close due to lack of business.
A Situation That Happened Recently:
Consider this situation - A Dominican family of three had arranged medical care for their child overseas. Following the treatment, they were scheduled to come home to Dominica at the end of this month. Their quarantine expenses were going to be less than $1,500 (EC) for all three at a small, certified accommodation near their village. If the new regulation goes through, the family would not be able to stay there. Instead, the family would likely be required to go to a much more expensive property, or to the Government Quarantine in Portsmouth at a cost of $6,500.00 (EC) for 3 persons. The family has no idea how they would cope with these drastically increased expenses.
Many Dominican students and family members are planning to return home for the summer. All of them should have the option of affordable local, safe, and certified properties in close proximity to their villages/localities. Restricting Safe-In-Nature will make it impossible for the smaller properties to host these guests and make it too expensive for some Dominicans to afford to come home. DHTA, the unified voice of the private sector tourism providers, finds this unacceptable!
At DHTA we know very well that all local, certified accommodations have been working very hard since September 2020 in partnership with Discover Dominica Authority and the Ministry of Health to ensure the success of this program. And it has been a HUGE success, as we have kept returning Dominicans, visitors and local staff and communities safe. Our certified accommodations have rigorous safety protocols to follow and they have made large investments in their infrastructure, staff training and health and safety measures that have prevented outbreaks or transmission of COVID-19 on their properties. DHTA has facilitated this success and has made big efforts to support the program to make it sustainable for all its members.
Despite these successes, Government officials still want to stop most local accommodations from hosting quarantine guests, stating that Health lacks the time and resources to monitor them. This threatened restriction is happening at a time of decreasing COVID-19 numbers and a very promising vaccine rollout strategy throughout Dominica. Many tourism property managers and their staff have already been vaccinated. Half of Dominica could be vaccinated in the next few months. So, there is no safety reason to justify this when DHTA properties are effectively and diligently complying with the COVID-19 protocols and keeping everyone safe.
The Ministry of Health has been doing a wonderful job in protecting Dominica from COVID-19. This has been a joint effort involving all of the DHTA quarantine accommodations, DDA, certified drivers, and certified tour guides & tour operators who have all been working extremely hard to ensure guests and staff follow the protocols to keep Dominica safe. No one Ministry nor sector could have accomplished this alone and we can see the results: Dominica continues to have one of the lowest rates of COVID-19 in the entire Caribbean.
Preventing small certified accommodations from hosting quarantine guests will be a huge economic blow to Dominica, to self-employed tourism workers, and to local communities and families.
It does not make any sense to punish local properties and their staff when our certified accommodations have been working so effectively for all these months to keep everyone Safe-In-Nature. DHTA remains committed to the health and safety of all and to the sustainability of all its members and is fully prepared to collaborate with Health and Tourism in taking actions to alleviate the burden of the monitoring process that will not put its members out of business.
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