The Dominica Cable Car project: An icon of Caribbean tourism

The Dominica Cable Car project is fast becoming one of the most highly anticipated tourism projects in the Caribbean, owing to the fact that it opens up a plethora of iconic locations, facilities and attractions for tourists that have largely remained untapped as yet.

The significance of this project is not only limited to Dominica but the Caribbean region as a whole.

An important facet of the project is that it is likely to attract tourists who come to the island nation for the express purpose of exploring the world’s second-largest hot spring, the Boiling Lake. It will reduce the travel time to the boiling two to merely 20 minutes, which typically takes about 4 to 5 hours (both ways).

The Cable Car Dominica is expected to triple the influx of tourists and also impact the disembarking ratio of cruise tourists in a positive manner.

In many cases, cruise tourists who visit Dominica often prefer to engage in light sightseeing and remain on their cruise ships for a major portion of their time in the country.

With iconic attractions such as the boiling lake and the world’s longest cable car being built in Dominica, the project is expected to get more tourists to spend time exploring the region, thus increasing the capital being brought into the tourism industry of the nation.

An added bonus is the boost that the project will provide to those involved in the transport business, with a particular focus on ferrying tourists from their cruise ships to the bottom station.

While the project might not be directly involved in transport and logistics in this regard, it will indirectly act as one of the primary reasons for creating more opportunities for taxi services, increasing employment and supporting an important market.

The Dominica Cable Car Project is also receiving international acclaim for the fact that it will break the Guinness Book World Record for being the longest Cable Car in the world. The project will achieve this feat by covering a distance of 6.6km.

Facilities at the Bottom Station

Once tourists arrive at the Bottom Station, they will have the ability to avail a myriad of facilities that the station will have on offer.

The bottom and top stations will have a large variety of eateries in the form of food courts and restaurants, which will serve multiple cuisines, catering to the tastes of the various kinds of people who arrive there.

From Caribbean fusion to continental food, the bottom and top stations will not disappoint those who visit, regardless of their culinary preferences.

As one would expect, food is not the only thing that the project focuses on, as the stations will have multiple shops and kiosks, which will allow visitors to shop for utilities, souvenirs, clothing and other items that will serve as memories of their trip to Dominica.

For those interested in letting their hair down and enjoying the tropical revelries that the island nation has to offer, both the top and the bottom station will have bars and cafes which will allow them to sit back and unwind with their loved ones, all the while enjoying some of the most spectacular views that the Caribbean has to offer.

An important aspect of the project that often goes unnoticed is the fact that all the aforementioned shops, bars, restaurants and other facilities will require a significant amount of manpower to support their daily functions, thus creating immense employment opportunities for locals.

This will directly supplement the local need for economic growth as the project becomes one of the primary economic drivers in the region, bringing stability and an improved quality of life to many.

Tour Guides

One of the industries that will experience exponential growth due to the Cable Car Project is that of tour guides who can take people along the famous trail leading to and from Boiling Lake.

This well-renowned yet hardly explored trail is famous for passing by many beautiful natural features on its way to the ‘piece de resistance’ that is the world-famous Boiling Lake, located within the Valley of Desolation.

Since many tourists will wish to cover the trail on their way to Boiling Lake or on their way back from it, tour guides will have the opportunity to work with a larger number of tourists as they explore the trail at their convenience.

Tourists will also have the ability to use the trail to reach the top and return via the Cable Car or vice versa, adding flexibility to their trip to and from Boiling Lake.

This way, they can savour the experience of having trekked along the trail for 6-7 hours while also having the comfort of using the Cable Car and exploring the region from a vantage point that provides beautiful views, the likes of which most visitors will never have experienced before.

Local employment during the construction phase

The Dominica Cable Car Project is not just seen as a driver for economic growth and employment in the near future but as a significant contributor in the current moment as well.

The project currently employs roughly 140 construction workers and professionals who hail from the area and are supporting the project in multiple capacities while also gaining meaningful employment in the process.

These employees include both men and women, who are benefitting financially from the project even before it is complete and fully functional.

Post-construction job opportunities

The Dominica Cable Project has been recognized for its potential to provide a large number of jobs to local residents post the construction phase, both directly and indirectly, adding to its value to the region and the nation.

Conservative estimates state that the project will directly employ roughly 100 individuals who will be responsible for handling the basic functioning and upkeep of the Cable Car.

Beyond that, the project will help employ taxi drivers, hospitality professionals, technical experts and tour guides to support the direct and aligned functions of the industry that is expected to form around the project and the Boiling Lake.

In fact, the hospitality industry, along with taxi services, are expected to be two of the primary sources of jobs and economic growth in the region.

Key entities behind the Cable Car project

The Cable Car project is a significant undertaking, especially for an island nation such as Dominica. It is backed by the country’s well-ranked Citizenship by Investment Programme.

The Minister of Tourism, International Transport and Maritime Initiatives, Denise Charles, has also been instrumental to the project, having lent her support and expertise to it in more ways than one, aligning herself and her team with the overarching vision with which Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has approached this iconic undertaking.

It must also be said that the government has partnered with world-renowned firms and technical companies that are known to be the leaders in such construction projects by using Doppelmayr, widely recognised as the best option for cable car construction projects in the world.

Doppelmayr’s expertise is quite impressive as the company has been operating in the market of ropeway installations for 125 years and can boast of the fact that it provides its services in over 50 countries.

The company has been directly involved in erecting 15,400 installations in 96 countries, resulting in a vast and impeccable resume.

The project is progressing under the supervision of ABL Holdings, which is handling the day-to-day logistical requirements of the project and is directly involved in its progress. The company has been responsible for working with many high-scale projects and is also recognized for its ability to find solutions for High-Net-Worth Individuals.

In its current capacity, with respect to the Dominica Cable Car Project, the company is undertaking yet another high-profile project with the ability to revolutionise the Caribbean tourism industry in the near future.

Both these firms are recognised for their specialised skill sets which are geared specifically towards such undertakings, making them the perfect partners for the government of Dominica in its quest to build the longest cable car in the world.

Shagun Sharma is a business journalist.

• KT Network