Cruise Tourism in Dominica: Benefits and Beneficiaries

The impressive growth of cruise tourism in Dominica, inside highly competitive area of the Caribbean basin, gives the island an astonishing flavor of success. By adopting a systemic approach the article demonstrates that three agents concentrate more than 70% of the financial impact of the cruise activity in Dominica: the local travel agencies, souvenir shops and the cruise lines. The low dispersion of the beneficiaries is concomitant with a spatial concentration and a minimal macroeconomic benefit. This case study, devoted to Dominica, suggests a highly concentrated model of cruise tourism in the Caribbean underpinned by organized tours as the main mode of experiencing the stopovers and a source of revenue for cruise lines, whose subcontractor: the local travel agencies are the primary distribution channel of cruise tourism revenue, high level of economic and spatial concentration generating low trickle down macroeconomic effect.