Dominica Rated #1 by Travel and Leisure Co.

Dominica is #1!

Our nature island paradise, Dominica was rated #1 by Travel and Leisure and deemed the World’s Best among the islands of the Caribbean, Bermuda and the Bahamas sending ripples of excitement around Dominica and throughout our tourism industry.

Destination Marketing Manager at Discover Dominica Authority (DDA), Kimberly King, relayed the palpable delight that this ground breaking award has stirred up locally.

King said, “I am extremely excited that Dominica has been named number one by Travel and Leisure publication, 2022! It’s the first time this accolade has been bestowed upon the island. So I'm extremely excited and happy for Dominica.This places Dominica among the World’s Best and with a cumulative score of 91.00. Our country surged ahead of every other island being considered in the annual survey conducted among Travel and Leisure readers. According to the article announcing the award, readers were asked “to weigh in on travel experiences around the globe — to share their opinions on the top cities, islands, cruise ships, spas, airlines, and more” and King stated, sharing further insight into the process.

King continued,“So basically the process is the readers rate through a survey based on specific attributes like the friendliness of the people, the island [itself], as it relates to different experiences, they might have had. For example, hotels, beaches, waterfalls and many other attributes. I'm sure we would have scored quite high on, especially in terms of the nature aspect of the island."

Asked what the award means with respect to the opportunity that exists to invest in Dominica’s tourism industry and the scope for the further development within the industry, King said she believes that this speaks volumes about Dominica’s capacity for more.

“That's big because it really puts us to the top of that ranking. Now you're seeing Dominica and our efforts, it proves that what we are doing out there in terms of our marketing, in terms of letting persons know about the great attributes about Dominica, [as] the capital of whale watching and the capital of hiking nature. Tourism marketing of the destination should go hand in hand with investment marketing. The first introduction has to be via experiencing the place and then you can say probably I can look at investing in Dominica. People are finding out more and are looking at how they can become a part of it.” King said.

Dominica has established itself as The Nature Island and continues to emerge as a leader in sustainability and eco-tourism investment with its pristine rainforests and coastlines, waterfalls and hot springs, abundant plant, and animal life above and below the water. Opportunities abound in hotel and resort development presenting a great time to get in on the building groundswell of interest in Dominica by constructing visitor accommodations that are environmentally friendly, and exceptional in service and experience such as boutique hotels eco- resorts & villas lodges.

One emerging area that Dominica has been very focused on is wellness. King says the possibilities for experiences built around wellness are almost endless.

“I'm sure for people that is an area where there are still a ton of opportunities to grow. There are so many things that can be tapped into. Some people see wellness in food. They see wellness in being transformative. But it's really untapped because in our nature in Dominica there are so many different attributes. There's so many things in Dominica that are untapped, especially for wellness that is worth the look and considerable investment into,” King stated.

The availability of natural, underground hot water sources makes Dominica ready for future investment in spas and there are multiple privately owned sulphur spas in the country. The island boasts of an abundance of herbs used in medical research and other plants for the productions of healing oils and teas which can be used in spas as well.