PM Roosevelt Skerrit visits Cable Car construction site, calls it Dominica’s major tourist attraction

Roseau, Dominica: Prime Minister Dr Roosevelt Skerrit and his team visited the construction site of the much-anticipated World’s longest Cable Car Project in the Roseau Valley on Thursday.

He hailed the progress made on the project and noted that the government aims to enhance Dominica’s tourism appeal through these projects.

Prime Minister Skerrit was accompanied by Minister of Tourism- Denise Charles, Minister of Finance- Dr Irving McIntyre, and other media officials at the site visit. The longest cable car in the world will provide easier access and reduce time travel to the iconic boiling lake, creating jobs, and boosting Dominica’s tourism and the local economy.

When asked about the benefits of the project, PM Dr Roosevelt Skerrit asserted that the whole intention and the overall vision of the government is to have such projects that can enhance the attractiveness of Dominica.

He stated that the project will enhance the access to the boiling lake and make it easier for several kings of the tourists who find it tough to get there

“We have a world wonder in the boiling lake, but the reality is because of access to the tourist attraction, it is prohibited for the majority of people to get there and even those of us who may have the ability physically to get there,” said the prime minister.

He said that the tourists would have to prepare themselves both physically and mentally for this long trek as there are many who have attempted and fallen, just a few yards away, and never got to actually see it after having worked for three hours and a half.

Calling it an opportunity, the prime minister cited,” This lends itself to the opportunity for everybody, respectively your physical circumstance to be able to enjoy the magnificence of the boiling Lake.”

The Prime Minister said that the project would be Dominica’s major tourism attraction just as Niagara Falls is to Canada and the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, France. “So, we have the best cable car construction company in the world from Austria building this and you can see the quality of the construction, you can see that they’ve taken into consideration a number of very important variables.”

He further asked everyone to be positive stewards and positive ambassadors as Dominica and to see, how the project could be a major tourist attraction as in countries, there is a need to promote a landmark, and attractions.

PM Skerrit stressed that the project should be used to attract more tourists to the country and make it the world’s best attraction. “We need more tourists in Dominica, so this is something that we have to use to build our competitiveness and enhance our attractiveness.”

In addition to that, Dominica Minister for Tourism- Denise Charles aspects for Cable Car to complement the island’s other tourist attractions. She noted, ”This project definitely will create a lot more traffic in Roseau Valley and increase economic activity in this area.”

Secondly, Minister Charles outlined that the project will benefit the local community because more tour guides are going to be needed, and more taxi operators are going to be needed, so it is going to create a major opportunity for involved in the taxi industry.

Moreover, the project will also enhance coastal busses as it may require new entry in the industry because depending on the number of people, they have to bus up there on a daily basis.

Denise Charles added, ”This will certainly create a demand so it is empowering people in the local community to take advantage of that opportunity with coastal buses, tour guides, restaurant owners, and other local vendors.”

She mentioned that more tourists like authentic experiences when they come to Dominica as they would want to explore the local community, and hot springs, so the project will bring a number of people to the wellness capital of Dominica.

The tourism minister is already preparing to increase the visibility of this and other projects and said that they are focused on capacity building at this moment and developing their marketing plans. She added that they are working to promote project such as Carbits Marina which will transform yachting sector.

She said, ”Dominica is going to have the best Marina in the next two years, so all this groundwork happens before, we constantly consult with stakeholders and make plans to push Dominica and the major projects that are going to transform our economy, create greater employment for our people and bring the revenue to the country.”

Minister for Finance- Dr Irving McIntyre believed that the project’s economic potential is significant and said that it means a lot to them in the constituency.

He said, ”Every person I greeted here is from my constituency, so you can imagine this sort of economic impact is having in terms of employment and how much money is being driven into the Roseau Valley. So it really means a lot to us, but apart fro that this is actually just a part of the puzzle of big economic infrastructure.”

Minister McIntyre added that Dominicans are prepared to take advantage of these major development projects as this will help with the tourist product. He said, ”If you were to have 2,000 cruise visitors coming and they all stay in Roseau, I didn’t get an opportunity to spend their money when they get out to go to Boiling Lake on the Cable Car, but this sort of development, they can even spend more time in Dominica and spend more money.”

He called it a win-win project for Dominica.