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Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Robert Tonge: A total failure

Tourism Minister Robert Tonge
Credit: 767news.dm

On entering government, Senator Robert Tonge was touted as a young, fresh and intelligent businessman with the chops to jump start our flailing tourism industry. Well into his second year, Mr. Tonge, affectionately referred to as "Robbie", has proven to be nothing but a total failure. Like his pubescent nickname, Mr. Tonge's efforts, if any, have proven to be juvenile and deserving of an 'F' from all Dominicans.

Mr. Tonge, busy fraternizing on Facebook, is presiding over a cruise ship passenger call industry that is shrinking like his receding hairline. The 2016/17 season will see less ships docking in Roseau. That means less passengers in Dominica, less money being spent in the country, and more hardship for our citizens. Furthermore, Mr. Tonge is on record declaring that the US advisory to its citizens that they should think twice about visiting countries that are known to have reported the presence of the Zika virus is of no concern to him and will not affect our feeble industry is sacrilege. Mr. Tonge, sir, did you happen to notice that the majority of cruise ships visiting our country are US ships carrying US passengers or passengers transiting through US territories?

The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) has reported a drop in passenger arrivals in Dominica last year, from 286,575 in 2014 to 279,341 in 2015, a drop of 7,234. Our two closest proximity English-speaking competitors, Antigua and St. Lucia however, experienced significant increases in passenger arrivals; Antigua from 522,342 (2014) to 644,314 (2015), St. Lucia from 641,452 (2014) to 677,394 (2015), increases of 121,972 and 35,942 respectively. Our neighbours are going up, we have dropped and will drop even further next season, but in Mr. Tonge's (and Mr. Skerrit's) view, we are the one's who are booming. How stupid can one be?

Last week Mr. Tonge was at an OECS tourism summit in Antigua to discuss ways to improve the industry in the region. Also on the agenda was the Zika virus, its implications and ways to address it. One wonders whether Mr. Tonge told the gathering that we have nothing to worry about.
A clueless-looking Robert Tonge at OECS Tourism simmit in Antigua anticipating divine intervention
Credit: antiguachronicle.net

Mr. Tonge and his predecessors in the Labour government have also failed at improving our air access. Despite repeated assurances that the DLP government will pursue the construction of an international airport, Mr. Tonge and his master, Roosevelt Skerrit, have consistently refused to follow through on that pledge. Mr. Skerrit has instead focused on promising to build fictitious resorts to accommodate fictitious guests; how Mr. Skerrit intends to bring these guests to Dominica remains to be seen. While Mr. Skerrit continues to peddle false hopes, Dominicans are sitting and waiting for the heavens to open up and deliver. Dominicans, Mr. Skerrit has no intention of building an airport. Mr. Skerrit knows that the land purchased by the previous United Workers Party government is the best place to locate an international airport; Mr. Skerrit will not give the UWP that satisfaction, so we will stay without an airport. In the meantime countries around the world, small and large, continue to take progressive strides to improve their tourism industry. Take for example the tiny island of St. Helena, the island where Napoleon was exiled and died.


St. Helena, population 4,300, is a tiny volcanic island (47 sq.mil.) that sits in the middle of the South Atlantic, 2,500 miles east of Brazil. The island, famous to bird watchers, is part of a group of remote and isolated islands on Earth that includes Tristan da Cunha and Ascension Island.
St. Helena; Airport in the background
Courtesy: St. Helena Tourism

St. Helena has never had an airport; visitors arrive by boat from Brazil or Africa, a voyage that can take over a week. The citizens of St. Helena decided that they wanted to build their tourism product and, instead of focusing on fancy resorts, they wanted an international airport, because they know that before you can house visitors, you first have to bring them in. They are about to open their first airport, a 6,500-ft runway, capable of handling Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
A British Airways jet in St Helena.
This is the first passenger jet to land on the island.

Roosevelt Skerrit, and many Dominicans, believe that our country does not need an international airport; some go so far as to say that our terrain makes it impossible to build one. The engineers who have constructed the international airport on St. Helena have proven otherwise.

St. Helena's topography is not unlike ours; the island is of volcanic origin and is beset with valleys, hills and mountains. In order to achieve the required runway length, the engineers, in what is clearly an extraordinary engineering feat, filled in a 300-foot valley. If it can be done in St. Helena, what's keeping us from doing it? Take a look at what can be accomplished with ingenuity (and in our case, lots of passport money).

Valley to be filled
Credit: sainthelenaaccess.com
Land fill in progress
Credit: sainthelenaaccess.com
Land fill in progress
Credit: sainthelenaaccess.com
Land fill in progress
Credit: sainthelenaaccess.com
Land fill in progress
Credit: sainthelenaaccess.com
Landfill wide view
Credit: Halcrow
Landfill view from above
Credit: Remi Bruneton
Landfill view from the Atlantic
Credit: Halcrow
Completed runway
Credit: Remi Bruneton
Terminal Building & Parking Lot under construction
Credit: Halcrow
Fuel and Water Tanks
Credit: Halcrow
Control Tower
Credit: Remi Bruneton
Terminal Building & Control Tower
Credit: St Helena Tourism
Terminal Building
Credit: St. Helena Tourism
Terminal Building
Credit: St. Helena Tourism
Terminal Building
Credit: St. Helena Tourism
Terminal Building
Credit: St. Helena Tourism
Engineers inside Control Tower
Credit: sainthelenaaccess.com
Terminal Building, Control Tower & Parking Lot
Credit: whatthesaintsdidnext.com
Aerial view of landfill, tarmac and runway under construction
Credit: sainthelenaaccess.com
British Airways jet on approach
Credit: whatthesaintsdidnext.com
British Airways jet landing on St. Helena for the first time
Credit: whatthesaintsdidnext.com

The purpose of us showing you this is to highlight what can be done when a nation decides that it wants to move forward. St. Helena, with a population of 4,300 has decided that in order for them to improve their tourist product, they must get an international airport. Dominica is seven times as large as St. Helena, with a population almost seventeen times larger. We are in close proximity to several large airports; we can almost see aircraft landing in Guadeloupe. The closest major airport to St. Helena is 2 time zones away. And we're behind St. Helena. And we accept that. Shame on us.



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5 comments :

  1. Very well written -- the fleecing of Dominica is not just criminal, but rather an attack on the human rights of our people. Dominican "Elite" are living on the corpse of the people. I am eagerly awaiting 9 May for the Panama Papers release.

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  2. Funding for the above airport
    Approximately £202 million was funded for design and construction by South African engineering group Basil Read (Pty) Ltd. The UK Government also granted additional funds of up to £10 million in shared-risk contingency, and £35.1 million for ten years of operation by South African airport operator Lanseria Airport. This is 20% less in real terms from the 2008 price, taking into account inflation and the value of the pound, the St Helena government has said. The airport will be the largest single investment ever made in the island.[9]

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  3. Excellent article. I guess the powers that be still don't see there's hope?!

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  4. OMG! This article makes me feel so ashamed be called a Dominican.

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  5. I agree I actually thought Robbie would have been a refreshing change to the Tourism industry, I'm very disappointed in his performance and lack of initiative. In regards to the St. Helena airport that's a great initiative....do we know the cost? I would be scared shitless lol, but that is a great initiative they took

    ReplyDelete

 
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